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The Florence Nightingale 
of the Southern Army ; 



Experiences of 

MRS. ELLA K. NEWSOM, Confederate Nurse 

in the 

GREAT WAR OF 1861-65, 



BY 

J. FRAISE RICHARD 




BROADWAY PUBLISHING CO. 

NEW YORK AND BALTIMORE 



Ei. 



Copyright, 1914 

by 

BROADWAY PUBLISHING CO. 



DEC 26 1914 

©CU393128 



PREFACE. 



In the compilation of this narrative an at- 
tempt has been made to present a sketch of a de- 
voted christian woman who did her duty faith- 
fully as she saw it. No effort has been made to 
give a false coloring to any of the pictures ex- 
hibited, but to present a straightforward narra- 
tive collected from imperfectly preserved data. 

The writer incorporates here a part of what he 
wrote for the American Tribune of Indianapolis 
in 1895. 

" Viewed from the standpoint of a Northern 
resident and a participant in the Union Army 
for the defense of the nation, the effort to estab- 
lish a Southern Confederacy was not only a phy- 
sical and a moral impossibility, but its success, 
had it been accomplished, would have been a 
dire calamity even to those who were supposed 
to be the greatest recipients of benefits. This 
belief, however, does not detract in the least de- 
gree from according sincerity of purpose, evidence 
of the highest bravery and consecration, and the 
most unselfish devotion to those involved on the 
other side of the bloody controversy. The con- 
flict was one between members of the Ansdo- 
Saxon race, and impartial history, forgetting the 

5 



6 PREFACE. 

rancor and enmities of the time, will record the 
deeds of valor and the acts of consecration, with 
even handed justice and fairness. 

" Could the stately palms and the redolent re- 
freshing magnolias of the Sunny Southland reveal 
the many sacrifices made by the maimed and 
dying beneath their refreshing foliage; could the 
twinkling stars that looked down with silent grief 
upon the heroic scenes witnessed upon numerous 
battlefields unfold their heart-breaking records; 
could hospital tents and hurried ambulances give 
up the secrets of intense suffering and unutterable 
woe which they only possessed; could the briny 
tears of joy and satisfaction that chased one an- 
other down the cheeks of some darling boy, lately 
given up to war by a devoted and affectionate 
mother, express the message of gratitude experi- 
enced on account of loving and timely ministra- 
tion in suffering; could the ominous look, the 
suppressed whisper, the affectionate farewell mes- 
sages of the dying, and the untold evidences of 
sincerest appreciation and gratitude, voice forth 
their real and full significance; yea, could all 
these multiform witnesses of humane and almost 
God-like ministrations on the battlefield, on the 
march, in the hospital, in the camp — everywhere — 
join their testimonies in one mighty chorus of 
gratitude, they would proclaim, in notes quite 
divine, the untiring, the unselfish, the incessant 
and the inexpressible services of the army nurse, 
and most prominent among these would stand 
the name of our subject, Mrs. Newsom, the 
6 Florence Nightingale of the South/ " 



ESTTKODUCTIOK 



The civil war did not begin with the firing 
upon Fort Sumter, nor cease with the surrender 
of the last hostile army. Its history was not 
written when Greeley published his " Great 
American Conflict " or Pollard his " Lost Cause." 
These were but the beginnings of things — a few 
more prominent incidents that marked the times 
from 1861 to 1865. 

Further, it must not be supposed that when the 
government published the archives of the two 
war departments for the period referred to, the 
annals of that most exciting epoch were fully 
presented to the world. Only the views of en- 
gagements as seen by the commanding officers 
have been presented while the great landscape of 
experiences and sacrifices, of ministrations and 
sufferings, of devotion and romance, of consecra- 
tion and self-denial — the real web and woof of 
the times — lies unrecognized, fully exemplifying 
the trite but no less true asseveration that 

" Full many a gem of purest ray serene 
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; 
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its fragrance on the desert air." 

7 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

These gems can be secured only after the lapse 
of time, by actual contact with the bonafide par- 
ticipants in such episodes. The authentic history 
of the war is yet to be written by the facile pen 
of the unprejudiced historian. 

11 The secret pleasure of a generous act 
Is the mind's great bribe." 

Dryden. 

"The drying up of a single tear has more 
Of honest fame, than shedding seas of gore." 

Byron. 

"The luxury of doing good." 
Goldsmith. 

"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, 
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit 
upon the throne of his glory : And before him shall 
be gathered all nations : and he shall separate them 
one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep 
from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his 
right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the 
King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye 
blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the world. 

For I was hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was 
thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and 
ye took me in: 

Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye 
visited me : I was in prison and ye came unto me. 

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying: Lord, 
when saw we thee a hungered and fed thee? or 
thirsty, and gave thee to drink? When saw we thee 
a stranger and took thee in? or naked, and clothed 
thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and 
came unto thee? 

And the King shall answer, and say unto them: 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it 
unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have 
done it unto me." 

Mat. 25:31-40. 

Sectarians and theologians may spend much, 
time and effort in attempting to distinguish be- 
tween tweedledum and tweedledee; but the re- 
ward of life, as indicated in this lesson taught by 
the Master, was bestowed not because of fine-spun 
theories in the domain of faith, but because of 
practical, tangible well-doing acts of benevolence 
and beneficence bestowed upon either the Master 
or his humble brethren. These are the practical 
things that enforce sound doctrine, and give 
golden setting to the many-phased problems of 
life. 

The trend of instruction presented hitherto is 
that which pervades the Living Oracles. Let us 
present a few cases : " My brethren," says James 
in the second chapter of his general letter, "have 
not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord 
of glory, with respect of persons. For if there 
come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, 
in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor 
man in vile raiment ; and you have respect to him 
that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, 
Sit thou here, in a good place; and say unto the 
poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my foot- 
stool. Are ye not then partial in yourselves and 
are become judges of evil thoughts ? " 

" If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scrip- 
ture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do 
well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit 



io INTRODUCTION. 

sin, and are convinced (convicted) of the law as trans- 
gressors." 

" If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of 
daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart 
in peace, be you warmed and filled; notwithstanding 
you give them not those things which are needful 
to" the body; what doth it profit?" 



The Florence Nightingale of the 
Southern Army. 



The Florence Nightingale of the 
Southern Army ; 



EAELY LIFE— PAEENTAGE. 

The subject of our sketch, Mrs. Ella K. 
Trader, better known as Mrs. Newsom, from 
heroic and unselfish devotion to the cause of the 
sick and suffering soldiers of the Confederate 
army during the late war, richly deserves i > be 
called the c; Florence Nightingale of the South." 
She is c, native of Brandon, Miss., and the daugh- 
ter of the late Eev. T. S. N. King, a Baptist 
minister of prominence and ability. 

In a letter she says: 

"I was born in the little town of Brandon, 
Eankin Co., Miss. The village looked like a big 
ant hill, and the population though small was 
just about as thriving and active as the busy ant. 

" My father was a Baptist minister and pastor 
of the only church of th; b peculiar people in the 
town. He was quite well off in this world's goods 
and my mother coming of an aristocratic family 
chose to hold herself rather aloof from the church 
folk. 

"We always had a carriage with two red bays 

13 



14 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

and a buggy and big brown horse for that. The 
first thing I remember of my childhood is that 
Pomp ran away one morning as mother and we 
children got into the buggy to go to Sunday 
school and all of us were tumbled out in a heap/' 

At an early date in her existence her father 
removed with his family to the wilds of Arkansas, 
where, amid the roughness and adversities of 
pioneer life, she was skillfully trained in the 
most daring and accomplished feats of horseman- 
ship, and became thoroughly qualified for the try- 
ing experiences which subsequently characterized 
her aivT.uous and unselfish life in the hospital 
service of the Confederacy. 

In process of time she became acquainted with 
Dr. Frank Newsom, a highly educated and ac- 
complished physician of that region who early 
removed from Tennessee. The acquaintanceship 
developed into the strongest affection and culmi- 
nated in matrimony. The husband dying, his 
widow was left with an ample fortune; but with 
it the sorrow and loneliness that inevitably attend 
the severance of most happy and compatible con- 
jugal relations. Her only relief was consecration 
to duty and labor in the busy scenes of the world. 

The sequel will show, as we believe, a life that 
presents in concrete form all the beauties and ex- 
cellencies so richly portrayed in the preceding 
quotations from the poets and the Scriptures — a 
life made luminous and helpful and memorable 
during the sad and fearful scenes of carnage and 
war when, in times of suffering and illness, the 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 15 

ministrations of terrestrial angels are graciously 
appreciated. The sequel will show, in the multi- 
form methods and occasions of relief, the signifi- 
cance of the brief statement concerning the Naz- 
arene — " He went about doing good," and may re- 
flect in his followers the import of that other dec- 
laration — "living Epistles, known and read of 
all men/' 

The transcript submitted of the life and doings 
and sayings of the heroine of the Sunny South- 
land, Mrs. Newsom, the Confederate Nurse, the 
" Florence Nightingale of the Southern Army " 
will fail to accomplish its primary purpose if it 
shall fail to leave the impression that the mar- 
velous power and influence she exerted during 
those four years of strife were owing primarily to 
the giving up of her richly endowed religious 
nature to the humane work of comforting, allevi- 
ating and blessing both physically and spiritually 
those who were fortunate enough to be subject to 
her ministrations. Her absolute self-abnegation, 
her utter obliviousness to personal comfort, her 
complete consecration of time, money, servants, 
energy — her all, to the well-being of others, friends 
or foes — these are the characteristics that chal- 
lenged the admiration of her contemporaries and 
will secure for her, in the future, the exalted 
regard of the American people. 

In the light of these considerations these pages 
should be read and weighed; and from these 
standpoints the most valuable lessons will be 
learned. 



i"6 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

Written for the American Tribune by J. Fraise Richard. 
A CONFEDERATE NURSE. 

Mrs. Newsom, the Southern Florence Nightingale. 
A Thrilling narrative of her adventures. 

The civil war did not begin with the firing upon 
Fort Sumpter, nor cease with the surrender of the 
last hostile army. Its history was not written when 
Greeley published his Great American Conflict or 
Pollard his Lost Cause. These were but the begin- 
ning of things — a few of the more prominent inci- 
dents that marked the times from 1861 to 1865. 

Further, it must not be supposed that when the 
government shall have published the archives of 
the two war departments for the period referred to 
the annals of that most exciting epoch will have been 
fully presented to the world. Only the views of en- 
gagements as soon by commanding officers will have 
been presented while the great landscape of experi- 
ences and sacrifices, of ministrations and sufferings, 
of devotion and romance, of consecration and self- 
denial — the real web and woof of the times — lies 
wholly unrecognized, fully exemplifying the trite 
but no less true asservation that 

Many a gem of the purest ray serene 
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; 

Many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its fragrance on the desert air. 

These gems can be secured only after the lapse 
of time, by actual contact with the bona fide partici- 
pants in such episodes. The authentic history of the 
war is yet to be written by the facile pen of the un- 
prejudiced historian. 

The subject of our sketch, Mrs. Ella K. Trader, 
better known as Mrs. Newsom from heroic and un- 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 17 

selfish devotion to the cause of the sick and suffering 
soldiers of the Confederate army during the late war, 
richly deserves to be called "The Florence Night- 
ingale" of the South. She is a native of Brandon, 
Miss., and the daughter of Rev. T. S. N. King, a 
Baptist minister of prominence and ability. At an 
early date in her existence her father removed with 
his family to the wilds of Arkansas where, amid the 
roughness and adversities of pioneer life, she was 
skilfully trained in the most daring and accomplished 
feats of horsemanship, and became thoroughly quali- 
fied for the trying experiences which subsequently 
characterized her arduous and unselfish life in the 
hospital service of the Confederacy. 

"With this object in view she sacrificed position, 
wealth, ease, health, and almost life itself in the 
cause of her beloved Southland. Utterly oblivious 
of personal comfort, she devoted herself to the hospital 
service and labored with fearless consecration in the 
midst of soul-harrowing scenes of carnage and blood- 
shed or in the " pestilence that walketh in darkness." 

Mrs. Newsom's experiences were identified mainly 
with the Army of Tennessee, in the hospitals of Bowl- 
ing Green, Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, Corinth, 
Marietta, Atlanta and other points. At the time the 
war broke out she was residing at Winchester, Tenn., 
where she was superintending the education of her 
younger sisters. The sisters returning to the parental 
roof in Arkansas, she collected suitable hospital 
supplies and taking a number of her own servants 
went to Memphis where her career in the army began. 
In various capacities she labored until December 
1861, when taking her own servants and a car load 
of supplies, at her own expense, she repaired to 
Bowling Green, Ky., to alleviate the almost inex- 
pressible sufferings of the Confederate sick. The 
scenes of destitution at that place beggar description. 
Want of organization, lack of siiitahle buildings, 
scarcity of supplies and the exceedingly cold weather 
produced untold suffering. With tireless energy she 



18 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

consecrated her energies to this distressing condition, 
often laboring from 4 o'clock in the morning until 12 
o'clock at night. 

On the arrival of General Lloyd's troops, his 
surgeon-in-chief fully appreciated the services of thu; 
Christian woman and gave her entire charge of the 
hospitals in the town. This position she held until the 
surrender of Forts Donaldson and Henry. She then 
went to Nashville and organized the Howard High 
School into a hospital for the sick and wounded of 
those forts. 

Her stay at Nashville, however, was brief. The 
surrender of Forts Henry and Donaldson compelled the 
withdrawal of the Confederates from Nashville. In 
the removal of the wounded she performed some feats 
that show clearly not only her tireless energy and 
consummate tact but her most remarkable executive 
ability. With the aid of Col. Dunn she had the sick 
and wounded placed upon cars and taken to Win- 
chester, Tenn. After several days' wearisome move- 
ments, the train reached Deckerd. The engineer, for 
some reason, detached his engine leaving the long 
train with its helpless passengers standing unsignaled 
and unprotected on the track at 10 o'clock at night. 
Wandering about the engine yard Mrs. Newsom se- 
cured another engine and by 2 o'clock had her train 
safely lodged at Winchester, distant several miles. 
All the churches and schools of the place were con- 
verted into hospitals, and every arrangement made 
for the comfort of the unfortunate men, who were so 
pleased with their treatment that they called the 
place the " Soldiers' Paradise." 

The sojourn at Winchester was also brief. The 
Confederate army retreated, and, under the skilful 
leadership of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson, con- 
centrated at Corinth for the desperate battle of 
Shiloh, April 6th and 7th, 1S62. Mrs. Newsom ac- 
companied the column. Her next field of labor was 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 19 

Corinth. The sick and wounded from Shiloh required 
the energies of all the nurses that could be sum- 
moned from the Southwestern states. It is not pos- 
sible nor necessary to go into details. One little 
incident at this time, may prove interesting. It 
occurred at the Tishomingo hotel. A boy of 19 years 
old, James Murray, from Pattersonville, La., was 
lying with a handkerchief over his eyes. Coming to 
him, Mrs. Newsom said : " My young friend, why are 
you so quiet?" He replied: "I have been so for 
twenty-four hours." 

On examination it was found that both his eyes 
had been destroyed by a bullet. Despite all this, the 
youth was cheerful, and jokngly said to her : " I 
shall be the blind poet of America." 

In a day or two after this Mrs. Newsom started for 
her home to secure a little rest, proper help having 
arrived from Mobile and other places. On her way 
from Louisiana she met a gentleman who had a coffin 
and was looking for his son who, he heard, was killed 
at Shiloh. Imagine his surprise and gratification too, 
when told by Mrs. Newsom that his boy was at the 
Tishomingo Hospital, not killed but a cheerful, though 
sightless patient. 

In chronological order and experience this invasion 
of Kentucky by Bragg and the retreat into Tennessee 
next occurred. The autumn of 1862 arrived. Lieu- 
tenant General W. J. Hardee, author of a work on 
Military Tactics, was commander of one of the corps 
in Bragg's army. He fully appreciated the great 
services rendered by Mrs. Newsom and so expressed 
himself in a number of letters which have been seen 
by the writer of this sketch. From one of those 
letters, dated Estella Springs, Tenn., November 15, 
1862, a few extracts are made. 

Tt seems that General Hardee had just been given 
the command of his corps. He says : " I left Chat- 
tanooga without knowing precisely where my com- 



20 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

mand was located. I have established my head- 
quarters here. I have a small house, known in 
Georgia and Florida as two pens and a passage, which 
furnishes me a room for an office and a room for a 
chamber. Dr. Yandell and Major Roy sleep in the 
same room with me. The other members of my staff 
are encamped in the immediate vicinity. 

" I am going this afternoon with Bragg and Buckner 
to Murfreesboro to look after affairs in that quarter. 
The enemy is concentrating his forces about Nash- 
ville. I don't think he will attack us in front, but 
may attempt to turn our position by marching on 
Knoxville or on Chattanooga by Sparta." Gen. Rose- 
crans, it seems, did not follow the program mapped 
out for him by Hardee. 

In another letter dated Shelbyville, December 4, 
1862, General Hardee alludes to Mrs. Newsom's in- 
fluence at Winchester. The seminary at which Mrs. 
Newsom was educating her sisters was under the con- 
trol of Rev. Z. C. Graves, a Baptist minister. Says 
General Hardee : " You are acquainted with Mrs. 
Collyer at Winchester, and with Mr. Graves. The 
latter was in great apprehension that his seminary 
would be taken for a hospital. The yellow flag had 
been hoisted on it by General Cheatham's medical 
director. In his distress he went to Mrs. Collyer, 
who told him to apply to me, and to represent that 
you had been educated there and he would save the 
building. He came. I went with him to General 
Bragg, who exempted the school. Dining afterward 
with Mrs. Collyer, she assured me that half the people 
of Winchester believed you had been instrumental in 
saving the building. You see what mischief you are 
doing." 

In a postscript to this letter, dated December 5th, 
occurs this statement, which has some historical sig- 
nificance : 

" After twelve o'clock I received an important order 
from General Bragg ordering my corps to take position 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 21 

at Eagleville, on the Shelby ville and Nashville pike, 
We are in the midst of a snow storm, and the order, 
with the exception of one brigade, is postponed till 
weather clears up." Mrs. Newsom it appears was 
the receptacle of important military information 
which now, for the first time meets the public eye. 

During this time Mrs. Newsom was in charge of 
the hospital at Chattanooga. It is the period preced- 
ing the battle of Stone River, which occurred Dec. 31, 
1862, and January 1 and 2, 1863. This conflict, ter- 
ribly severe on both sides, increased hospital labors. 
One incident only can be cited. 

The intense and long continued suffering of the sick 
and wounded enlisted the sympathies and secured 
the sacrifices of women in the South unaccustomed 
to toil and sacrifice. Southern ladies were intensely 
loyal to the cause of the Confederacy and did valiant 
service in stimulating soldiers to deeds of heroic dar- 
ing. No better expression can be given to the senti- 
ment than will be afforded by extracts from several 
letters by that gifted writer, Miss Augusta J. Evans 
(since 1869 Mrs. L. M. Wilson) : 

Mobile, August 25, 1863. 
My deae Mrs. Newsom : — I have just returned from 
a brief visit to Chattanooga, where I went to see my 
brother Howard who has been in very poor health 
for more than a year. He belongs to Tucker's 
41st Mississippi Regiment, Anderson's Brigade and 
Wither's divison. 

This is a season of peculiar trial and deep national 
gloom, but I comfort myself with the words of 
Schiller's Wallenstein : 

"In the night only Freedland's stars can beam." 

Our night has come down, black and cheerless. 
Let us look up hopefully, unwaveringly, for the 



22 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

shimmer of our glorious day-star, grappling faith to 
our weary hearts ; let us place our destiny in the 
hands of a merciful, just, and righteous God, and 
calmly say with Southey: 

"Onward, in faith; and leave the rest to heaven;" 

As a people we have relied too little upon our God, 
and too entirely upon ourselves. We have become 
corrupt, selfish, grasping and avaricious. We needed 
chastisement and it has fallen upon us. I trust the 
recent day of fasting and prayer was faithfully 
observed throughout the Confederacy. I do not be- 
lieve that our greatest trials have yet overtaken us, 
but the hour of sorest need is certainly at hand. 
Independence and constitutional republican liberty 
is too precious a boon to be lightly won, and we are 
now paying the heavy, immemorial dues which liberty 
demands. I mourn over the demoralization of the 
country, because it places our national redemption 
so much farther off. The women of the Confederacy 
have been remiss in not using their influence to correct 
this evil ere it becomes colossal : for they are the 
guardians of the nation's purity, and upon them, in 
great degree, must devolve its reformation. 

This eloquent letter was written, it will be observed, 
under the gloom which followed Lee's defeat at Gettys- 
burg, Pemberton's surrender at Yicksburg and Bragg's 
expulsion from Tennessee. The outlook for the Con- 
federacy was far from encouraging at that time. 

Mrs. Newsom manifested on many an occasion a will 
power and spirit of determination scarcely less than 
superhuman. Napoleon said during the prosecution 
of the Peninsular Campaign: "There is nothing that 
can resist my will." For a time it seemed to be 
grandly true. 

This "Florence Nightingale of the South," this 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 23 

prodigy of benevolence and philanthropy during the 
trying ordeal of war, exhibited like characteristics. 
Only an instance or two can be cited in illustration: 

In the summer of 1S63, while Bragg and Rosecrans 
were maneuvering for the possession of Middle Ten- 
nessee, Mrs. Newsom deemed it necessary to pay a 
visit to her aged parents and own home in Arkansas. 
The dangers and difficulties in the way of the execu- 
tion of so hazardous an enterprise cannot be more 
fully expressed than by quoting a letter written at the 
time by Dr. Johnson to dissuade her from the attempt. 

Wartrace, Tenn. Jan. 2, 1863. 
Mrs. E. K. Newsom : — I was at Headquarters to- 
day, and General Hardee informed me that you were 
preparing to go to Arkansas. He spoke of the matter 
with much warmth, and urged me to write to you 
and present the real difficulties to be encountered. 

In the first place, the distance. This is a great 
objection. The mode of traveling, by rail, is in the 
present condition of the roads a most serious obstacle. 
Then, when the road terminates, how will you get 
further? Public conveyances are out of the question. 
Can a private conveyance be had? I think not. How 
can you subsist? Where sleep? How will you cross 
rivers and creeks? 

You have energy and will. They are excellent 
qualities and avail a great deal under difficulties^ but 
it will put these to the severest test and your power of 
endurance besides. Then when you get to Arkansas, 
can you stay there? Will they not send you to prison, 
or order you back within our lines? I think they will. 
If you get to the Yazoo country, and fird you can go 
no further, and should be obliged to return, you will 
be so much exhausted that you will faint by the 
way. Will you listen to your friend and counsellor? 
In my opinion you ought not to take the trip. If the 



24 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

country were as it was two years ago, it would be a 
big undertaking now it is an impossibility. 

I am, very truly your friend in haste, 

Jno. M. Johnson, 
Chief Surgeon. 

Dr. Johnson, though chief surgeon of Hardee's 
Corps, was not successful in preventing this difficult 
and perilous journey. He may have delayed it; for 
not until the following January was it undertaken. 
Then from Marietta, Ga.. Bragg's army having after 
the battle of Missionary Ridge taken position around 
Dalton, she set out on what proved to be a much more 
eventful and dangerous journey than she anticipated. 

From Marietta to Atlanta, thence by rail, ambu- 
lance, and foot to Mobile, Ala. : thence via Meridian, 
Miss., and Jackson to Memphis ; and finally from 
Memphis via Helena to Pine Bluff, Ark., where Gen- 
eral Steele's forces were stationed. Knowing her 
danger here, and learning meanwhile that her parents 
had removed some thirty miles or more to the south- 
ward, she determined to prosecute her trip to a suc- 
cessful conclusion. At her own former home she 
met her invalid; and a young sister. With these 
and several jaded animals, together with some pro- 
visions and other necessary family supplies, she pro- 
ceeded across prairies and bayous, a distance of 
more than one hundred and forty miles. Multiplied 
exposures and dangers that would have deferred any 
ordinary traveler were met and overcome. The 
greatest danger was not the presence of the enemy. 
The swollen streams and the bayous rendered prog- 
ress next to impossible. 

Finally the neighborhood in which her father's 
family resided was reached. The intervening stream 
was swollen from one of ordinary dimensions to one 
of quite a mile. On the opposite side was the parental 
roof and a place of comparative safety. With the 
foresight characteristic of a living parental heart, he 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 25 

had, apparently in anticipation of a visit from his 
long absent daughter, placed a guide board to indicate 
the proper place to cross the stream. But the great 
floods had not been anticipated by him. 

This difficulty was to be overcome. A dugout was 
obtained; but it was sufficient to hold only one per- 
son in addition to the rower. One by one the brother 
and sisters were taken across; and one by one the 
jaded horse, the mule and Shetland pony were com- 
pelled to swim over. The parental roof was reached. 
The scanty supplies were distributed to cheer the 
destitute house. 

A tale of woe awaited the long absent daughter. 
In one of the many raids made into the community 
by Federal soldiers, belonging to Steele's command, a 
band of outlaws visited the King's mansion. One of 
the members became involved in some controversy 
with her father, and deliberately shot him through the 
side and arm, inflicting a wound from which he never 
recovered. So incensed at this dastardly deed became 
Miss Josie King, a younger daughter, that mounting 
a horse she followed the retreating soldiers a distance 
of quite thirty miles and reported the outrage to Gen. 
Steele, who arrested and keenly punished the cowardly 
perpetrator of the deed. Her visit completed, Mrs. 
Newsom's return to the army was fraught with equal 
dangers and exposures, the recital of which can* not 
be undertaken. 

Extract from a letter from Mr. C. C. Guilford, 
Knoxville, Tenn. 

" Would that I had lived such a life as yours. 
Then, indeed, I could confidently step out into the 
higher life. Your beautiful life in old Winchester has 
been an inspiration through my whole life. I revered 
you then above all other women. You must have had 
an equally great influence on many other persons. 
These will be your ' sheaves.' I wonder where you 



26 OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 

are going for your vacation. Presume that our 
finances will require us to stay right here. 

Write me a postal when you feel like it, 

With sincere love, 

Charlie." 

I want you to read this page. I get this kind of 
letters from old men and old women all over the 
country and I have seen but few of them since the 
days of my youth. I was only 22, a young widow. 
Does it not prove that youth is the time to serve God, 
and shows, too, how our character for good or evil 
influences those around us for their entire life in this 
world. 

Fame is only a finger mark in sand, 

A noble life is man's only enduring monument. 

With this object in view, two years later, she went 
to Winchester, Tenn., and taking with her from 
her home in Phillips County, Arkansas, Misses 
Fannie, Josie and Lizzie, younger sisters, she 
placed them in the Mary Sharp College, under 
the direction of Professor Graves from Zanesville, 
Ohio. She had herself pursued studies there and 
was perfectly familiar with the place, having 
spent in the aggregate, some several years. 

Later, with this same object in view, at the 
first call of her beloved Southland, she sacrificed 
position, wealth, ease, health and almost life itself 
to the cause. Utterly oblivious of personal com- 
fort she devoted herself to the hospital service 
and labored with fearless consecration in the 
midst of soul-harrowing scenes of carnage and 
bloodshed or in the " pestilence that walketh in 
darkness." 



THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 2j 

Rev. Mr. King's life in Arkansas was devoted 
largely to religious matters of a pioneer character. 
He preached in country places and exerted in the 
community the same benign influence which char- 
acterized his domestic affairs. 

In addition to the anxiety resulting from the 
absence of Mrs. Newsom in the army for the 
whole period of the war and two sons in different 
portions of the Confederate service, he and his 
family were constantly annoyed at home by strag- 
glers and desperadoes from both armies. 

In March 1864, he was sjiot near Pine Bluff, 
on Bayou Bartholomew, by outlaws from General 
Steele's army. The ball passed through shoulder, 
side and foot. The men rode away but were pur- 
sued by his youngest daughter, Miss Jossie, a 
distance of thirty miles. She never ceased follow- 
ing until she reached Steele's headquarters and 
reported the case. The General had the vandals 
arrested and punished. 

Mr. King, who weighed nearly 250 pounds, 
died two years later from the effects of the wounds 
received on this occasion. His suffering of course 
was intense. Of exemplary character, he was 
deeply mourned by both his relatives and friends. 
His death was a deep affliction. 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 29 



AN EPISODE AT SAND MOUNTAIN. 

In the spring of 1861 war being imminent, she 
sent her sisters to the parental home in Arkansas 
while she repaired to her country home, 160 acres, 
on Sand Mountain, Alabama, just above Shell 
Mound, Tennessee. Sand Mountain is said to be 
in three states, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, 
in a corner where the three meet. On the top of 
the mountain the Gordons, Guilfords of Boston, 
Dr. La Compt of Georgia, a Mr. Grant, brother 
of L. P. Grant, who gave to Atlanta, " Grant 
Park " and Mrs. Newsom had homes. They owned 
nearly the entire top of Sand Mountain and had 
intended to make it a spot of surpassing beauty, 
rivaling even the famous Blannerhassett Island 
of Aaron Burr fame, but the dream vanished like 
a fairy vision, indeed, when the alarm of war 
sounded. 

"Well, well, the world must turn upon its axis, 
And all mankind turn with it, heads or tails, 
And live and die, make love, and pay our taxes 
And, as veering wind shifts, shift our sails." 

Byron's Don Juan. 

John B. Gordon, afterwards a Lieutenant Gen- 



30 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

eral and famous officer in the Confederacy, pro- 
ceeded at once to raise a regiment to which he 
gave the name " Raccoon Roughs " as the moun- 
tain was sometimes called Raccoon mountain. 

The troops must be clothed and supplied with 
blankets. Blankets enough to supply the demand 
could not be secured; hence the Gordons and Mrs. 
JSTewsom manufactured a kind of comfort not 
mentioned in any of the army regulations. It 
was made by pasting together large sheets of 
paper about the size of an ordinary blanket, and 
covering each side with calico. This made a pro- 
tection from damp ground and a light burden 
when rolled up to sling over the soldier's back. 
Says Mrs. Newsom : " We worked day and night 
and made clothes, too, of the best material we 
could get from a little country store. In a short 
time, though not following the strict army regu- 
lations, we had fully equipped the company of 
c Raccoon Roughs' and made them the peer of 
the modern ' Rough Riders.' Meantime John B. 
Gordon was regularly installed a Captain and 
started with it for the seat of war in Virginia." 

Who dare say that the infant industry de- 
veloped on Sand Mountain in 1861, the out- 
growth of dire necessity, prompted by consecrated 
devotion to the Sunny Southland and dedicated 
to the heroic mountaineers who responded to the 
call of their various states, may not have been the 
precursor of the great industrial activity that sub- 
sequently blessed Alabama, Georgia and Tennes- 
see? Who may not trace from these humble ef- 
forts the great prosperity that has later charac- 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 31 

terized Atlanta, Chattanooga and Birmingham? 
However cruel and heartless war is its results 
may be a higher and more heavenly order of 
things. Let us rest in that hope. 

In harmony with her purpose to pursue hos- 
pital work, she went, in the autumn of 1861 to 
Memphis, Tenn., and began to take instruction 
in nursing at the City Hospital under charge of 
Dr. James Keller and the Roman Catholic Sis- 
ters; also in the Southern Mothers' Home in 
charge of Mrs. Law. 

The first heavy demand for the services of 
nurses occurred after the battle of Belmont, Mo., 
November 6, 1861 between the Union forces under 
General Grant and the Confederates under 
Bishop Polk in command at Columbus, Ky. Mrs. 
Newsom was connected for a time with the Over- 
ton Hospital which was in charge of Doctors 
Fenner and Marsten, at Memphis, where the sick 
and wounded from Belmont were nursed, finally 
becoming its matron. 



32 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 



AN EPISODE AT BOWLING GKEEN, KY. 

On the 14th of September, 1861, Governor 
Isham G. Harris of Tennessee wrote from Nash- 
ville to Major General Polk, then at Memphis, a 
letter touching the question of the occupancy of 
the state of Kentucky by Confederate troops. 
Three days' prior to this date, viz., September 
11th, General Polk had written to Gov. Beriah 
Magoffin of Kentucky a strong letter in which he 
expressed an earnest desire to be kept informed 
as to the position Kentucky would take on the 
question of supporting the Confederacy. Such 
information, he said, would be desirable to enable 
himself to map out his own course of action. 

He even went so far as to send to Frankfort a 
messenger, Dr. Fowlks, to whom he had com- 
municated his desires and purposes, closing his 
message with the statement: "I think it of the 
greatest consequence to the Southern cause in 
Kentucky or elsewhere that I should he ahead of 
the enemy in occupying Columbus and Paducah." 

When Governor Harris was advised of this pur- 
pose of Gen. Polk, he wrote the following letter: 

Nashville, Sept. 4, 1861. 
Major General Polk: — 

Just learned that Pillow's command is at Hick- 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 33 

man. This is unfortunate, as the President and 
myself are pledged to respect the neutrality of 
Kentucky. I hope they will be withdrawn in- 
stantly, unless their presence there is an absolute 
necessity. 

This question of Kentucky's attitude was a 
perplexing one. It had its advocates pro and con. 
General S. B. Buckner urged withdrawal, and 
thought it would advance the Confederate cause 
in Kentucky. The letter of General Albert Sid- 
ney Johnston to President Jefferson Davis on this 
subject has special interest. 

Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 16, 1861. 
Mr. President: — 

After full conference with Governor Harris, 
and after learning the facts, political and military, 
I am satisfied that the political bearing of the 
question presented for my decision has been de- 
cided by the legislature of Kentucky. 

The legislature of Kentucky has required the 
prompt removal of all Confederate forces from 
her soil, and the Governor of Kentucky has is- 
sued his proclamation to that effect. The troops 
will not be withdrawn. It is not possible to with- 
draw them now from Columbus in the West, and 
from Cumberland Ford in the East, without open- 
ing the frontiers of Tennessee and the Mississippi 
river to the enemy, and this is regarded as essen- 
tial to our present line of defense as well as to 
any future operations. So far from yielding to 
the demand for the withdrawal of our troops, I 



34 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

have determined to occupy Bowling Green at 
once. 



I design to-morrow, which is the earliest prac- 
ticable moment, to take possession of Bowling 
Green with 5000 troops and prepare to support 
the movement with such force as circumstances 
may indicate and the means at my command 
may allow. 



Having no officer that I could place in command 
of the movement on Bowling Green, I have been 
compelled to select and appoint General Simon 
B. Buckner, a brigadier General, subject to your 
approval, which I hope it may meet. 

The occupation of Bowling Green is an act of 
self-defense, rendered necessary by the action of 
the Government of Kentucky and by the evidences 
of intended movements of Federal forces. 

A. S. Johnston, 

General C. S. Army. 

In a letter from Bowling Green, Ky., Sept. 18, 
1861, addressed to General Cooper at Richmond, 
General Buckner says : u I occupied Bowling 
Green at 10 o'clock this morning with 4500 men; 
I have sent forward an advance of 500 men to oc- 
cupy Munfordsville." At the same time he issued 
a proclamation : " To the People of Kentucky " 
in which he used the paragraph : " I return 
amongst you, citizens of Kentucky, at the head 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 35 

of a force the advance of which is composed en- 
tirely of Kentuckians." 

Later in the season other troops assembled at 
Bowling Green, October 10th a brigade each of 
Arkansas and Tennessee infantry together with 
cavalry and artillery aggregating nearly ten 
thousand men. On the 28th of October, General 
Albert Sidney Johnston assumed command of the 
Army of Central Kentucky. His forces consisted 
of two divisions, the first under command of 
Major General W. J. Hardee; the second under 
command of Brig. Gen. S. B. Buckner. Hardee's 
division consisted of three brigades commanded 
respectively by Brig. Gen. T. C. Hindman, Col. 
P. R. Cleburne and Col. R. G. Shaver. 

Buckner's division had likewise three brigades, 
commanded respectively by Colonels Henson, 
Baldwin and J. C. Brown. 

The troops came from Arkansas, Tennessee, 
Mississippi and Texas. Of the last state one of 
the finest regiments was the Texas Rangers, a 
cavalry organization under command of Col. B. F. 
Terry, a native of Kentucky. He is said to have 
been a young man of majestic form and command- 
ing presence, a natural leader of men. 

In a conflict on the 17th of December 1861, at 
Rowlett's Station (Woodsonville) on Green 
River, between the 32nd Indiana and the Texas 
Rangers, Col. Terry was killed. General Hardee 
under date of December 21st, speaks of the event 
thus : " In charging the enemy Col. Terry, of 
the Texas Rangers, was killed in the moment of 
victory. His regiment deplores the loss of a 



36 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

brave and beloved commander; the army one of 
its ablest officers." 

Mrs. Newsom on her way to Bowling Green, 
Ky., stopped at Nashville where she saw the re- 
mains of Col. Terry whom she regarded as the 
highest type of a warrior. He was deeply mourned 
by friends out of as well as in the army. From 
Miss Emily V. Mason's Southern Poems of the 
"War I transcribe lines on the death of Col. B. F. 
Terry, written by J. R. Barrick, Glasgow, Ky., 
Dec. 18, 1861, the day following the tragic event. 

There is a wail 
As if the voice of sadness long and deep, 
Had given its low tones to the Southern gale, 
Sweeping o'er vale and steep. 

There is a voice 
As if of mingled mourning in the land, 
And nature, stricken, ceases to rejoice, 
As if at grief's command. 

There is a grief 
As if of hearts that were unused to mourn, 
And sighs and sorrow fail to bring relief 
To those that thus bemoan. 

There is a tear 
As if of eyes that were unused to tears — 
A link of friendship broken that was dear — 
A shadow on past years. 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 37 

There is a pall 
As if of darkness o'er our sun-land spread, 
A weight of weariness, and grief on all — 
Who mourn the heroic dead. 

The South winds moan, 
The South winds murmur in a plaintive strain, 
The South birds warble in a saddened tone, 
And the land groans with pain. 

The Lone Star shines 
Less brilliant in her glow of Southern skies, 
Since he, the idol of her cherished shrines, 
In death's cold slumber lies. 

Back to the State 
That gave him birth, his spirit bade him come 
To share the peril of her pending fate, 
Far from his chosen home. 

There, where his life 
First coursed the channel of its future fame, 
He fell, the foremost in the deadly strife, 
With glory to his name. 

Tho' dead to earth, 
While man may boast that he is not a slave 
Of tyranny, his valor and his worth 
The tide of time will brave. 

Bear unto those 
To whom his voice in battle gave command, 
Who, now, amid the terror of his foes, 
Shall head that gallant band? 



38 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

Dear to the State 
Of his adoption, to the people dear 
Whose cause he proudly strove to illustrate, 
Who now shall fill his sphere? 

Washington, D. C, July 20, 1910. 
Miss May D. Trades, 

Washington, D. C. 
Deae Miss May: — 

I am gratified to see you manifest such a 
marked interest in the War Sketch of your mother. 
Her history is unique, a rich legacy to a daughter. 
With the imperfect and incomplete data sub- 
mitted to me I have endeavored to preserve to 
the world the sketch of a noble woman and a bene- 
factress. If you move wisely and discreetly in 
the publication and sale of the sketch, you will, 
I think, find it profitable in every way. Now is 
the time to push the matter. I wish you success. 
It may be well to see me personally. 

Fraternally, 
J. Fraise Richard. 



DE THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 39 



SCENES AT BOWLING GREEK 

Iisr December 1861, Mrs. Newsoin took her ser- 
vants and a carload of provisions, at her own ex- 
pense, to Bowling Green, Kentucky, to alleviate 
the almost inexpressible sufferings of the Confed- 
erate sick. Most of the soldiers and officers were 
young and inexperienced. The scenes of destitu- 
tion beggar description. Want of organization, 
lack of suitable buildings, scarcity of supplies and 
the exceedingly cold weather produced untold suf- 
fering. 

With tireless energy Mrs. Newsom consecrated 
her efforts to this distressing condition, often 
laboring from four o'clock in the morning until 
twelve o'clock at night. 

On the arrival of General J. B. Floyd's troops, 
his surgeon-in-chief fully appreciated her ser- 
vices and gave her entire charge of his hospitals in 
the town. This position she held until the sur- 
render of Forts Henry and Donelson, February 
6th and February 13-14th, 1862 respectively. She 
then went to Nashville and organized the Howard 
High School into a hospital for the sick and 
wounded from those forts. 



4Q THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 






SCENES AT NASHVILLE. 

Mrs. Newsom's stay at Nashville, however, 
was comparatively brief. The Confederate defeat 
at Mill Spring and the surrender of Forts Henry 
and Donelsorj compelled Gen. Albert Sidney John- 
ston to fall back from Bowling Green through 
Nashville and establish a new line of defense well 
in the rear. The breaking of the Confederate 
line that extended from Mill Spring through 
Bowling Green to Columbus enabled the Army of 
the Ohio under Buell to follow Johnston's through 
Nashville, and the Army of the Tennessee under 
Grant to move to Pittsburg Landing on the Ten- 
nessee Tiiver. The new line selected by Johnston 
extended along the Memphis an<] Charleston 
Railroad from Chattanooga to Corinth, with the 
latter place as the main point of concentration. 

In the removal of the wounded from Nash- 
ville, Mrs. Newsom performed some feats that 
show clearly not only her tireless energy and con- 
summate tact but her most remarkable executive 
ability. With the aid of Col. Dunn she had the 
sick and wounded placed upon cars and taken to 
Winchester, Tennessee. After several days' weari- 
some movements the train reached Decherd. The 
engineer, for some reason, detached his engine 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 41 

leaving the long train with its helpless passengers 
standing unsignaled and unprotected on the track 
at 10 o'clock at night. Wandering about the 
engine yard Mrs. Newsom secured another engine 
and by 2 o'clock had her train safely lodged at 
Winchester distant several miles. All the churches 
and schools of the place were converted into hos- 
pitals, and every arrangement made for the com- 
fort of the unfortunate men, who were so pleased 
with their treatment that they called the place 
the a Soldiers' Paradise." 

The sojourn at Winchester was also brief. So 
deeply was Mrs. Xewsom concerned in the wel- 
fare of her wards at Winchester that her escape 
uncaptured was almost miraculous. Almost by 
force of arms was she rescued and compelled to 
join the on-moving army. The Confederate army 
retreated, and, under the skillful leadership of 
Gen. A. S. Johnston, concentrated at Corinth for 
the desperate battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862. 

It ought to be remarked that after the precipi- 
tate retirement from Winchester Mrs. Newsom 
went temporarily to Atlanta and was stopping at 
the Empire House. There she received from Gen. 
Pat. Cleburne a despatch asking her to come at 
once to Corinth and bring with her a carload 
of supplies. Accordingly she chartered a train 
and complied with the request, taking with her 
Carrie, her trusted servant. 



42 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 



SCENES AT COKINTH. 

The battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing as 
it is called by the Union troops, was fought on 
Sunday, 6th 'and Monday, 7th of April, 1862. 
General Johnston's purpose was to attack Grant on 
Sunday before his army could be reinforced by 
Buell's just moving in from Nashville. 

The main battle occurred on Sunday between 
Johnston and Grant, the former being slain, and 
Beauregard being his successor. 

Buell's army of the Ohio was brought up in 
time to join Grant's on Monday, thus overpower- 
ing the Confederates and driving them back to 
Corinth. The slaughter and the sick and wounded 
in this sanguinary contest reached many thou- 
sands. The dependent were all taken to Corinth. 

The excessive rains, the low, marshy grounds, 
and the long-continued siege of Corinth made 
health conditions very precarious. Corinth was 
one vast field of sickness and helplessness. The 
Confederates and Union prisoners who became ill 
increased the cares and responsibilities. The sick 
and wounded from Shiloh required the energies 
of all the nurses that could be summoned from 
the Southern states. It is not possible to go into 
all the tedious details. One little incident at 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 43 

this time, however, may prove interesting. A 
boy 19 years old, James Murray, from Patterson- 
ville, La., was lying with a handkerchief over his 
eyes. Coming to him Mrs. Newsom said : " My 
young friend why are you so quiet ? " He re- 
plied : " I have been so for twenty-four hours/' 
On examination it was found that both his eyes 
had been destroyed by a bullet. Despite all this 
the youth was cheerful, and jokingly said to her : 
" I shall be the blind poet of America." 

Sometime afterward she met on a train a gentle- 
man who had with him a coffin and was looking 
for his son who, he heard, was killed at Shiloh. 
Imagine his surprise and gratification when told 
by Mrs. Newsom that his boy was at the Tisho- 
mingo Hospital, not killed but a cheerful though 
sightless patient. 

Mrs. Newsom, speaking of these scenes says: 

" The scenes in the Tishomingo Hotel Hospital 
after the battle of Shiloh beggar all description. 
Every yard of space on the floors, as well as all 
the beds, bunks and cots were covered with the 
mangled forms of dying and dead soldiers. All 
had come from the battlefield several miles dis- 
tant, many having been conveyed in rough wagons 
over muddy roads. 

a When they arrived at any of the hospital build- 
ings the first thing one of the women attendants 
had to do was to get some coffee and bread to 
revive the body a little so that the wounds could 
be dressed as soon as possible. Next, was to find 
a hospital suit in order to rid them of the muddy 
and bloody clothes in which they had fallen. 



44 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

"In the midst of the confusion of the day in 
question a bevy of women from Mobile, Alabama, 
under the supervision of an Episcopal minister 
arrived. They styled themselves the ' Florence 
Nightingale Brigade/ Immediately after their 
arrival they held a council of criticism and de- 
cided to revolutionize the bad management. 

" In less than a week, however, only two or 
three of the thirty were left to give a helping hand. 
One was Miss Cummings of Mobile, Ala., a 
Scotch lady and a Mrs. Crocker. All took hold 
of the work, heart and soul, and remained in the 
Hospital service to the end of the war, Miss Cum- 
mings afterwards writing a book, ' Hospital Life 
in the Confederacy/ and a few years later bring- 
ing out another book, ' Gleanings from the South- 
land/ 

" I left the Tishomingo Hotel in charge of 
Mrs. Gilmore and Miss Cummings and took the 
Corinth House Hospital where there was not a 
corner in which a woman could lay her head for 
rest or sleep. I was forced to go to the private 
residence of a Mr. Inge which was at that time 
the Army headquarters. I was allowed to occupy 
with my faithful servant Carrie a small room in 
which we put two cots and one or two boxes for 
seats. Every morning at daylight we went to the 
Hospital remaining there until eleven or twelve 
every night that we did not stay all through the 
night to sit up with some poor fellow shot in the 
lungs and who had to be fanned every moment 
to enable him to breathe at all. 

" Among this number I remember a soldier 



OP THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 45 

from the enemy's ranks who was a prisoner with 
many others. He was a splendid looking man with 
great big brown eyes. His name was never given 
to me. I shall never forget the agony of that 
suffering countenance as he tossed his head from 
side to side to try to breathe. When he learned 
that we were about to leave on a retreat, he begged 
so hard to be taken along that I persuaded some 
of the nurses and soldiers to take up his bunk 
and carry it to the car platform and if it were 
possible I promised him he should be put on the 
train with our wounded. Carrie, my maid, 
walked beside the bunk fanning him every step 
of the way; yet we pleaded but vainly to have him 
go with our wounded. The Yankees were then 
shelling the town and I had to tell him that his 
friends would soon take charge of him and see 
that he was well cared for. Carrie and I bade 
him farewell at the same time placing a fan in 
his hand; then we boarded the train — I never 
heard of or saw him again." 

Later Mrs. Newsom became matron of a hospi- 
tal in the Crutchfield House, Chattanooga, Tenn., 
where with her servants, she worked as heroically 
as ever for the good of the cause. 

After her experiences at Corinth she concluded 
to spend a few days with her dear friend Miss 
Augusta Evans. This she did; but availed her- 
self, meantime, of the opportunity afforded to 
spend some days in visiting and inspecting on the 
trip the hospitals at Okolona, Columbus and Meri- 
dian, Mississippi. 

Satisfied with the conditions at these points, 



46 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

she passed on to Chattanooga and thence into 
South Western Virginia. She had made a promise 
to Gen. J. B. Floyd, before he left Bowling Green 
to go to Fort Donelson, that she would finally re- 
pair to West Virginia and take charge of his sick 
and wounded soldiers. This she did in the sum- 
mer of 1862 when she went to Abingdon, the seat 
of Emory and Henry College, which institution 
had been converted into a hospital under the 
charge of Dr. Forbes, one of Floyd's surgeons. 

While at this point ,she concluded to go to 
Richmond to extend her knowledge of and ex- 
perience in hospital matters. The trip was made 
in consequence of conditions brought about by 
the two days' battle of Seven Pines, (called Fair 
Oaks by the Union side) May 31, and June 1, 
1862. In this sanguinary struggle between the 
forces of Joseph E. Johnston and George B. Mc- 
Clellan, the loss in killed and wounded was very 
heavy, and about equal, 7000 out of 15000 on 
each side. Her stay at Richmond was brief, how- 
ever, she being ill from the marshy conditions 
and compelled to return to her mountain resort 
at and around Abingdon, Dublin Depot and 
Newbern. It was at this time that she passed 
in a stage a day's journey across the country to 
Buchanan from which place she wrote the memor- 
able letter to General Preston Smith. 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY, 47 



THE INVASION OF KENTUCKY. 

In the Confederate invasion of Kentucky in 
the summer of 1862, by two columns one under 
E. Kirby Smith from East Tennessee into the 
Blue Grass region, and the other and main one, 
under Braxton Bragg, via Glasgow and Munfords- 
ville to Frankfort, two battles were fought. The 
first under Smith occurred at Richmond, August 
30th and was a complete routing of the Union 
troops, resulting in the wounding of Gen. William 
Nelson and the capture of Gen. Manson and much 
of his force. The second was a conflict between 
the forces of Bragg and Buell at Perryville, 
October 8th, resulting in Bragg's defeat. 

These two battles furnished additional numbers 
of sick and wounded to be provided for in the 
hospitals of Chattanooga, Marietta and other 
points in the Confederate rear. 

On the 31st of December 1862 and the 2nd of 
January 1863 the next conflict occurred at Stone 
River between the same two armies, General Rose- 
crans having superseded General Buell. After 
the defeat Bragg retreated, taking his sick and 
wounded to the rear to be cared for. 

The summer of 1863 was an active one in 
military matters. Rosecrans maneuvered to drive 



48 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

Bragg across the Tennessee into Northern Georgia. 
The movement led up to the severe battle of 
Chickamauga, September 19 and 20, resulting in 
the defeat of the Union army and the besieging 
of it within the confines of Chattanooga. 

In the latter part of August, Burnside entered 
East Tennessee, taking possession of Knoxville, 
September 4th. November 25th the Union forces, 
General Grant commander, drove Bragg from 
Missionary Eidge, compelling him to retire to 
Dalton. 

As the result of the heavy engagements that 
were had in 1863, Chattanooga first and after- 
wards Marietta, Georgia, were the scenes of hos- 
pital operations. When Mrs. Newsom went to 
Marietta she was empowered to take possession 
of, and organize hospitals in substantially all the 
buildings surrounding the Public Square. They 
were held by her for considerably more than a 
year; or until Johnson's retreat in 1864 rendered 
their further retention by the Confederates im- 
possible. 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 49 



A TRIP TO THE PARENTAL HOMESTEAD. 

If reference be made to the letter of Dr. John- 
son, Surgeon on the staff of Gen. Hardee, dated 
Wartrace, Tenn., January 2, 1863, it will be seen 
that the strong persuasion used by him had the 
effect of deferring the homeward trip two years. 
We allow Mrs. Newsom to give the facts in her 
own language. 

"Leaving my hospital and servants in charge 
of Miss Monroe, in February, 1865, having heard 
nothing from my dear old father and mother for 
two years except of their bad treatment at the 
hands of the rabble of both armies, I thought I 
would summon courage and strength to under- 
take a journey from Atlanta, Ga., to Helena, Ark., 
where I had last heard of my family. 

" I had for a companion a Mrs. Buckley whose 
husband was in the Southern army but whose 
relatives were in the North. She thought we could 
get through the Union lines near Memphis from 
her acquaintance with many of the Union officers 
there. We got along pretty well as far as Jack- 
son, Miss., but from there the trip was perilous 
from the condition of the country and from the 
intense cold weather. Railroads had been des- 
troyed, bridges burned, provisions consumed. We 



50 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

slept one night in a bare room in what was once 
a fine hotel in Jackson. In the morning we got 
a one-mule wagon and an old darkey to take us 
half a day's journey when we found a bit of rail- 
road track which had not been torn up. We paid 
the old fellow and entered the dilapidated car with 
joy, enjoyed a rough lunch and soon the car gave 
a jerk and a start. Alas, it was only for a mile or 
two. We came to a dead stop. The truck was 
frozen, wheels would not turn. We sat there 
shivering until about sundown when some men 
said that every one who was not afraid to walk a 
trestle and cross a river in a boat would find lodg- 
ing just across the river and perhaps something to 
eat. Mrs. Buckley and myself took up our hand- 
bags and risked the trip, feeling it was death to 
stay where we were, Federal scouts going through 
the country. 

" We got safely over the bridge and to the bank 
of a cold, almost frozen-over river. We yelled and 
yelled and yelled for the ferry-man. It seemed 
hours before he came. Our hands were nearly 
frozen. The same boatman had to pilot us to the 
house of a Mr. Barbee. The ground was like rocky 
clods frozen so hard it took us an hour to reach the 
dwelling. A big, old fashioned roaring fire was 
shining through the windows. A lady pulled us in 
cordially but we could not speak for the oain in 
our hands and feet. She hastily led us to a bowl 
of water and plunged our hands into it. After 
a few moments we began to recover. We partook 
of a frugal meal for supper. The good-hearted 
people said we had to rest under their roof for 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 51 

many days and then they would devise some way to 
get us on to Memphis. 

" I think we were 18 or 20 miles from that 
city with Gen. Forrest's command between. When 
we did leave the Barbee's it was in a four mule 
open wagon. About noon we came up with some 
of Forrest's scouts. Upon learning who we were 
and our determination to reach the city they 
ordered an ambulance to come for us. So we sent 
our mule team and wagon back. The ride was so 
rough we had to stand up and hold on to the 
wagon body all the way. 

" When we got near Memphis the i blue coats ' 
began to appear. After much parleying they did 
let us in; but when I reached the home of an old 
friend, I was hardly greeted before I was told I 
must not stay in the city that night but go out- 
side five or six miles. My friend said he would 
secure a pass and send it to me, so I got on a train 
and went to Buntin's Station. I waited there two 
days for that pass, but it finally came and also 
permission to go down the river to Helena, Ark. 

" My companion, Mrs. Buckley, did not take 
the precaution to go out of the city the night we 
arrived and stay until she got a pass. She was, 
accordingly, arrested, sent to Fortress Monroe and 
was there or somewhere until the war closed. 

" I got to Helena safely ; but oh, the whole 
place and country seemed alive with the ' blue 
coats.' My wits, my courage, my good looks all 
failed me. I was taken into the Provost office, 
requested to take the oath which I would not do, 
threatening to make the matter known to the Com- 



52 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

mander at Memphis. My home where I expected 
to find my family was in the country. When after 
a day or so I got there I found everything in a 
dilapidated condition and that my father and 
mother had moved to Pine Bluff, Ark., some 150 
miles farther on. 

" A brother who was not allowed to go into the 
army owing to imperfect vision, and who was in 
charge of my property, what little there was left, 
said if I could ride a mule on a man's saddle for 
150 miles through black mud swamps and over 
prairies he would go with me and my sister to 
see my father and mother. After a search among 
the neighbors we obtained an old broken-down war- 
horse, a pony and the mule. My brother rode the 
mule. We started on that lonely, lonely trip, 
carrying some coffee and sugar to the dear old 
people. It took us many days to make the trip. 

" After a three days' journey which was peril- 
ous, indeed, on account of the swimming of bayous 
and rivers and the going through dense forests 
and swamps where might be in hiding rebel guer- 
illas and Yankee bushwhackers or ja} 7 hawkers, 
we came in sight of the King place; could see the 
tops of the trees and hear the bark of the watch 
dog. But the home was located on a muddy bayou, 
and between us and the house there was a deep, 
sluggish stream which seemed to have no crossing 
and yet looked deep and dangerous. 

" It is getting twilight, my brother said : 
' Sister, what shall we do ? Shall we risk stick- 
ing to our horses and swimming across ? ' While 
we were debating the question I rode around 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 53 

among the trees, immense cypress monsters of 
that swampy country. I saw something white 
clinging to one. I pulled it down and found it 
to be a notice in my father's clear, bold hand: 
'Anyone coming to the banks of this bayou will 
find a large log across. Horses can be gotten over 
by swimming them by the side of the log' We 
looked at each other with tears flowing down our 
cheeks. I said: 'Is that not just like father, 
always planning for the good and comfort of the 
public and having no thought that the first to 
find that notice would be his long absent children 
whom he had not heard from in three years ? ' 

"We crossed over safe, went splashing along 
ankle deep in water almost to the door. My 
parents and two sisters were in the home; men, 
black and white, were in the army or away from 
home. My father came trembling down to the 
gate. His astonishment was so great he was 
speechless. He waved back to mother. Soon we 
were all taken bodily down from our horses and 
held in the arms of first one; then the other 'mid 
tears and shouts of delight and surprise. All the 
colored people from the field; everything and 
everybody was surrounding us." 

Her visit completed, Mrs. Newsom's return to 
the army was fraught with equal dangers and ex- 
periences, the recital of which cannot be under- 
taken in detail. Suffice it to say that after en- 
countering many hardships she finally reached 
Atlanta, whither she was taking her invalid sis- 
ter, intending to resume her hospital duties. 

Shortly, however, the "cruel war" closed; the 



54 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

cause of the Confederacy became the " lost cause ; " 
Lee's and Johnson's armies surrendered; Presi- 
dent Davis and some of his faithful adherents 
were captured and a feeling of despondency over- 
came all who had so cheerfully toiled and sacri- 
ficed for four long years. 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 55 



HISTORICAL TIDBITS. 

Mrs. Newsom always regretted not knowing 
Albert Sidney Johnston. 



She highly esteemed and frequently mentioned 
the following named nurses: Miss Kate Cum- 
mings, Miss Munroe, Mrs. Sarah Gordon Law. 



" Colonel " Ned Wentworth, a Western officer, 
possibly from Michigan or Illinois, was injured 
at Stone River and taken as a prisoner to Chat- 
tanooga where he was placed in a hospital under 
the direction of Mrs. Newsom. 

When she found him severely wounded and 
asked his condition he said : " Oh, Mrs. Newsom, 
you wouldn't be so kind if you knew who I am; 
I am on the enemy's side." 

"But," said she, "you are fallen, and I make 
no distinction." 

They became good friends. He lived eight 
months and then died in a tent devoted to gan- 
grene patients. His arm was amputated in August, 
he dying from the effects a few days later. 

" Colonel " Wentworth was said to be a relative 
of "Long" John Wentworth, of Chicago, sub- 
sequently a member of Congress from that city. 

* * * * * * * * 



56 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 



A FAITHFUL COLORED SERVANT. 

It is stated in this narrative that Mrs. New- 
som took with her at her own expense, servants 
and provisions for the hospital work. Her favorite 
attendant was Carrie; her mother called her 
Caroline Elizabeth, hut Mrs. Newsom gave her 
the more familiar name, Carrie. 

Carrie was a refined colored girl from Arkansas 
and had lived in the Newsom household from the 
time she was nine years old and continued with 
her mistress not only through the war but for a 
year after the close of the struggle. Contrary to 
the general practice, Mrs. Newsom taught Carrie 
to read and write, using spare time at night from 
the labors and cares of the hospital. 

The attachment of this servant for her patron 
was little less than divine and this feeling was 
fully reciprocated. It was an illustration of the 
adage : " A fellow-feeling makes us wondrous 
kind." 

Another of the servants taken into the army 
from Arkansas was named George, concerning 
whom this incident is told: 

At Marietta, Ga., Mrs. Newsom entered into a 
business negotiation. George had fallen in love 
with a colored girl called Vicie. In order to se- 
cure a wife for him, Mrs. Newsom pledged to pay 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 57 

$3000 for Yicie; but when the Confederate troops 
were falling back from Marietta, she paid the 
planter $1500 in Confederate money and in ad- 
dition gave her obligation to pay $1500 more when 
the war was over. As one of the results of the 
war Vicie was freed; and the general confusion 
attending the retreat compelled the planter to 
lose his slave, the $1500 in Confederate money 
and the unredeemed obligation. 

In 1870 Carrie married a very worthy man 
named Baker and lived some four miles from 
Venice, Madison County, Illinois, where she be- 
came the mother of six children. A letter from 
her dated May 14, 1882, the last one received is 
signed "your humble servant, Elizabeth Baker." 
It is addressed with old-time affection to " Dear 
Miss Ella." All Mrs. Newsom's subsequent efforts 
to reach Carrie by mail have proved unavailing. 
It is not known whether she is still alive or not. 

SOME MEN AND LETTERS OF WAR TIME. 
" Though a novice when I entered Hospital 
work I made up my mind when undertaking such 
a mission to consecrate and concentrate all the 
energies of mind and body I could command to the 
thorough performance of whatever duties would 
arise; and if life held out to remain from first to 
last in that service for suffering soldiers. The 
attentions of men had no charms for me. I had 
resolved to lay all I possessed of youth, beauty 
and wealth on the altar of the Confederacy. So 
of course I did not expect to be known outside of 
the hospitals. Military rank and insignia did not 
charm me. But I soon found that I must be 



58 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

thrown with, the officers of the highest rank to 
secure what I needed in keeping a suffering army, 
bunks and pallets in even a moderately com- 
fortable condition. 

* So it was, I suppose, because of my youthful 
appearance and my enthusiastic ardor in the 
hospital work, I became quite a favorite with our 
Generals, all of whom were humane enough to 
want their men as well cared for in sickness or 
when wounded as conditions would allow. I had 
a personal acquaintance with many of them, 
among whom I might mention: Polk, Cleburne, 
Preston Smith, Hardee, Breckenridge, Floyd and 
others. Cleburne, Polk, Hardee and Smith 
would frequently do me the honor of visiting my 
hospitals and calling on me socially whenever they 
could get me long enough from my work to talk 
to them. 

" The first officer with whom I became ac- 
quainted was General Preston Smith of Memphis, 
Tenn. A great big fellow he was, with a great big 
heart. Having met him as I was going to Ken- 
tucky just before the battle of Belmont I awakened 
his interest in my undertaking and he pledged 
himself to do everything he could in rendering any 
service to sufferers in his or any other command. 
Further he assured me that he would see that all 
those needing care and medical aid should have it 
either through some hospital or individual. We 
were from that time until he was killed at the 
battle of Chickamauga, the best of friends and 
corresponded as much as the confusion of war 
would allow." 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 59 

During the movement of Bragg's army into 
Kentucky in 1862, Mrs. Newsom took occasion to 
pass through Knoxville into South Western 
Virginia for much needed rest. She finally visited 
the Natural Bridge because of her great admira- 
tion for the objects of nature. 

While at Buchanan, from which point she made 
forays into the adjacent regions for the purpose 
of communing with nature, she wrote the follow- 
ing letter to General Smith, an officer proverbial 
for his disbelief in God and in a divine revelation. 
Her purpose in writing the letter, which was 
drafted by the evening twilight in the tower of the 
Court House, was to arrest the attention of this 
man who was standing on the threshold of daily 
dangers and who subsequently fell in the battle 
of Chickamauga. 

The message was in a serious vein, and wholly 
unlike the usual ones sent on similar occasions. 
The poetic vein exhibited at this time was the 
product of her surroundings. The fact that she 
illustrated the sentiment 01 Bryant : u To him 
who in the love of nature holds communion with 
her visible forms she speaks a various language," 
prompted the village people to apply to her on 
this occasion the designation: "The wild woman 
of the mountains." 

Buchanan, August 24, 1862. 
General Preston Smith, 
My Kind Feiend: — 

I sat in the door and watched the daylight 
depart; the eye-lids of evening close; the soft and 



60 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

gentle breeze of these mountain homes fanned my 
face and stole quietly away, and now the outer 
world slumbers on the couch of night. Hushed 
into a sweet repose my spirit in thought wings its 
way afar off and communes with friends, and I 
have retired to my room to pen its reflections to 
you ; at least that part of my meditations in which 
our friendship has a place. 

It is a Sabbath night too, and may I not so 
earnestly pray and desire that all my correspon- 
dence and conversation with gentlemen would 
elevate and ennoble their thoughts and aspirations ? 
I would not trespass with letter writing upon 
these calm and holy hours. What volumes does 
recollective memory open to our eager gaze, and 
with what movings of heart do we peruse each 
page ! How many a one thrills with delight our 
bosom as we trace it; but alas! how many a 
blackened leaf we would tear from its place and 
give to the wings of the past to bear away to an 
eternity of forgetfulness. But oh there is no 
Lethe's stream, no sea of oblivion. All must not 
only come before our reflective eye, but that of an 
infinitely wise and holy being who is cognizant of 
our entire life. The book of life kept in heaven 
awaits our coming there and it will decide our 
future existent 3. 

I was wondering this evening if you have con- 
templated scenes beyond the grave, and seriously 
considered the question whether you were ready 
for an exchange of worlds. Perhaps you may 
think my Sabbath evening thoughts too serious for 
correspondence but they originated from what you 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 61 

wrote me of the grand and gorgeous sunset you 
and your brother had gazed upon and enjoyed so 
much. I wondered if while feasting your eye upon 
so magnificent a scene of creation, your soul were 
not subdued and your spirit unconsciously bowed 
in adoration of its creator. When the heavens de- 
clare the glory of God, how can a man withhold 
his worship? How strange that he should think 
it condescending to be christian; to stand before 
the world an advocate of the principles that elevate 
and ennoble his being here and prepare him for the 
companionship of angels. 

Are you not often astonished at yourself that 
you should have lived so long the abject wor- 
shiper of your own evil nature? Something we 
must adare and worship; and if it be not the 
supreme ruler of the Universe it must be some 
God of our own make. 

Sometimes when I find myself communing with 
absent friends I feel such a bursting and longing 
of soul for them to yield their sinful nature to the 
regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit that I 
feel surely they must, they will soon acknowledge 
God as the supreme object of all worship. But 
the power to convince and to convert men from 
the errors of their ways belongs alone to God, and 
what a feeble instrument I am to endeavor to 
persuade them that in religion alone is fullness 
of joy. 

Since my health has been restored, the time has 
been passed delightfully. Pleasant paths seem 
ever before me, and kind friends I find at every 
turn. Surely the half of Virginia hospitality and 



62 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

kindness hath not been told, and the whole land 
seems a perfect Canaan in the way of plenty. The 
land of Palestine with its mountains of Lebanan 
could not surpass this in beauty. I do not forget 
the sorrows of my bleeding country. Ah no! for 
now it hath come home to me. My own loved 
ones are feeling the despot's cruel power, and 
many a sad moment I spend in fearing they are 
dealt harshly with. But so conscious am I of God 
overhead, and that the enemy can go so far and 
no farther that I resign all into his hands. 

Crush the child of God as they please, his faith 
would sustain him 'mid the wreck of worlds. 
Take home, friends and even freedom, he knows 
there is for him a "house not made with hands 
eternal in the heavens." What is life, what is 
liberty to one who has a hope beyond the grave? 
Such a one is my venerable father. Whatever 
happens to him, 'tis well. 

When I contemplate the faculties of mind and 
soul with which our Heavenly Father has endowed 
our being, thus enabling us ever to find resources 
of relief and comfort within ourselves, no matter 
how goes the world without, I feel that it were 
indeed useless to fret the soul, and life itself 
away, over the turbulent scenes of earth. In this 
way I am enabled to forget the harrowing scenes 
of camp, hospital and the battlefield and feast my 
soul upon the delight of nature. I always seek 
quiet country places where my companions are 
mostly of the world of nature, sunrise and sunsets, 
mountains, hills and dales, running, rippling 
streams, the dark, deep, wild woods and the 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 63 

jagged cliffs of rock — all these and more I have; 
so you can imagine I am not lonely. 



I came to this place, which is just 12 miles 
from the Natural Bridge and 12 from Otter 
Peaks, for a few days, with a lady from Newbern 
at which place I was making my headquarters, and 
when I tell you I have sat spell-bound upon the 
highest rock of this far famed Peak and stood 
in mute wonder and admiration beneath the most 
stupendous arch of the world, you will cease to 
wonder that my whole being is lost in contempla- 
tion of the Deity and the manifestations of his 
majesty and power on earth. Could I do other- 
wise than write in such a strain to my friends, a 
letter not sad, not gloomy; yet feel that receiving 
it as you will 'mid the stale scenes of camp, where 
you have so little to call you to meditation and 
reflection; that it will neither entertain nor in- 
terest you ? I hope you may get it as some day is 
departing in silence and beauty, and when sitting 
in your tent you watch the mellow twilight come, 
and have just enough light to read with ease these 
hastily written pages. 

I feel so disappointed to learn that you have 
left Knoxville; for I thought brother could visit 
me. He was near and I could hear from home. 
Still I am glad that you are pushing on to drive 
the foul invader from down-trodden Kentucky. 
We ought to have had the go-ahead movement 
long ago. Do not get too far off without writing. 



64 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

You must be tired of this long letter, I will 
close, Good-by, 

Your friend, 

E. K. Newsom. 
Please if you see Gen. Hardee, tell him I have 
written and directed it to Knoxville. 

" My next acquaintance with high rank was 
with General Hardee. When I went to Bowling 
Green, Ky., to look through the hospitals and find 
out what was most needed and where my services 
would do the most good, the appalling condition 
of the sick sent me at once to headquarters. 

u General Hardee greeted me quizzically, say- 
ing: 'Well, my little girl, what is it you want? 
Have you a sick brother you want a furlough for ? ' 
I said : ' Yes, thousands of sick brothers, but I am 
not asking furloughs. I want you to come with 
me through the hospitals of this place and see for 
yourself what your men are enduring/ 

" To my surprise he ordered his carriage and 
went with me at once, promising at the end of our 
tour of inspection to do everything he could to 
better the wretched state of affairs. He detailed 
soldiers to help clean and assist me in every way 
possible, also keeping in daily communication with 
me to learn how our work was progressing. 

" I got to know General Hardee better than any 
others of our distinguished Generals and always 
found him manly and a splendid soldier though 
almost womanly in the caring for his troops." 

On one occasion when Mrs. Newsom and Gen- 
eral Hardee were discussing the condition of the 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 65 

hospitals he asked her to tell him what the 
soldiers got to eat. She, therefore, submitted the 
following observations touching the bill of fare had 
in a Confederate camp: 

" General Hardee was always saying : ' Fll drop 
in about breakfast time, or at your dinner hour. 
I want to see how you live and how you feed my 
men ! ' This he would say because our breakfast 
was usually in the last years of the war ; rye coffee 
sweetened with sorghum, hard tack with occa- 
sionally a slice of baker's bread, but no meat, no 
butter, no eggs. I often wonder how in the world 
we had any strength to keep on our feet, much 
less to attend to our hospital duties. If I had 
such things as butter, eggs or meat, I felt it must 
go to the sick or convalescent. 

" One Major Peters, a soldier from Tennessee 
felt so bad that I would give all the best of things 
away that he sent me $50 a month (in Confederate 
bills) which he said was to be spent in buying 
something for Mrs. Newsom to eat; otherwise re- 
mittances were to be stopped. 

" General Hardee heard of this and that is why 
he would come to my breakfasts to see if I was 
living as had been reported. The dear old Gen- 
eral was always so genial, agreeable and courteous 
that his visits were of the greatest benefit and 
blessing. He would always insist that I take a 
horseback ride with him every day while he was 
in Chattanooga. In other places he would send 
one of his staff to take me out for a drive. He 
never hesitated to show me every honor and 
courtesy/' 



66 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

Lieutenant General William J. Hardee was a 
conspicuous character in the Southern Confed- 
eracy. His " Tactics," a text-book with which 
every soldier was familiar, made his name known 
throughout the land. 

He was born in Savannah in 1819. At the age 
of 19 he graduated at West Point in 1838, and 
was at once appointed Second Lieutenant in the 
dragoons, and the following year was made a first 
lieutenant. This rank he held until 1844 when 
he was promoted to Captain. He rendered ac- 
ceptable service in Mexico during the war with 
that country. From 1856 to 1861 he commanded 
the cadets at West Point. In the latter year he 
resigned his position to be made a Brigadier Gen- 
eral in the cause of the Confederacy. 

For bravery in the battle of Shiloh he was made 
a Major General, and placed in command of a 
division in Bragg's army. Shortly afterward he 
was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General, 
and assigned to the command of a corps. He 
participated in the battles of Chaplin Hills, 
[Perryville], Stone Eiver, Chattanooga, and in 
the siege and fall of Atlanta. He was in com- 
mand at Savannah at the time of its evacuation in 
December, 1864, on the approach of Sherman, and 
likewise at Charleston in February, 1865. 

He surrendered with Johnston April 26, 1865. 
He died at Wytheville, Ya., November 6, 1873. 

The letters written during the war constitute 
an interesting but important literature of the 
times, revealing often incidents and phases which 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 67 

would not otherwise appear. What is appended 
will be self-explanatory. 

Estella Springs, Nov. 15th, 1862. 

My Dear, Dear Friend : — 

I left Chattanooga without knowing precisely 
where my command was located. I found one 
division (Buckner's) at this place; the other 
(Anderson's) at Alisonia. I have established my 
Headquarters here. I have a small house, known 
in Georgia and Florida as " two pens and a pas- 
sage, which furnishes me a room for an office and 
a room for a chamber. Dr. Yandell and Major 
Roy sleep in the same room with me. The other 
members of my staff are encamped in the im- 
mediate vicinity. My wagons, staff, horses, etc., 
all reached here safely to-day. 

I went yesterday at Bragg's invitation to see 
him at Tullahoma. I found him rather gloomy, 
but he brightened up under my genial smiles and 
happy looks. I shall try to make you acquainted 
with passing events and I send for your perusal 
alone a letter which I received from him to-day. 
It will give you some information which may in- 
terest you. Destroy it after reading it. 

I miss your society more perhaps " than I am 
willing to acknowledge." As soon as I can get 
away I shall see you again, but this may not be 
for several weeks. I am always a better if not a 
wiser man when I am with you. There is no good 
in telling you that I love you ; for that might pro- 
voke you to say, as you did once before, that you 



68 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

love no one, much less the old general, and I 
might threaten again to commit suicide. You are 
a heard-hearted creature. If you consulted your 
happiness you would marry. You are not a happy 
woman now. 

I am going this afternoon with Bragg and 
Buckner to Murfreesboro to look after affairs in 
that quarter. The enemy is concentrating his 
forces about Nashville. I don't think he will 
attack us in front, but may attempt to turn our 
position by marching on Knoxville or on Chat- 
tanooga by Sparta. Nous verrons. 

I have been very busy since my return. I found 
that my corps required attention and some re- 
organization, and all I wish to do has not yet been 
effected. I called my division and brigade com- 
manders together the next day after my arrival 
and consulted them fully respecting the condition 
and wants of their respective commanders. 

Your brother is well, I have not seen him, but 
saw a gentleman who had, and conversed [with] 
him day before yesterday. 

I congratulate you on being an authoress, a 
writer for the Illustrated Eichmond News. A 
piece signed " Anita " I know to be yours. Very 
excellent, but of this more anon. 

Your friend, 

W. J. Hardee. 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 69 



Shelbyville, Te^n., Dec. 4, 1862. 

My Dear Mrs. Newsom : — 

Your letter by Capt. Wilkins has been received. 
I regret my inability to write before. Inde- 
pendently of my usual duties I am President of 
an Examining Board to rid the " service of incom- 
petent, disqualified and disabled officers." Gen. 
Carroll is at present before the Board. This 
Board only examines general officers. 

I have pleasant quarters, the same I occupied 
last spring in the retreat. After many marches 
and counter-marches, I find myself precisely in 
the same spot I left nine months ago. I find the 
people and the condition of things much as I left 
them. Some friends made in the spring, greeted 
me cordially on my return. 

I don't like the tone of sadness which pervades 
your letters. You are destroying your health and 
your spirits by constant labor in the hospitals. 
I wish I could be with you to take you to walk 
and to ride. It would give me much pleasure. 
You must go out every day when the weather 
permits, if not to ride, at least, to walk. I have 
received from Gen. Morgan the present of a beauti- 
ful thoroughbred. He is very handsome, but quite 
unbroken. If you could ride him I would send 
him to you. His capers this evening, with me, 
would have unhorsed most ladies. 

I don't see much prospect of being able to make 
you a visit very soon. In your absence I am con- 
soling myself as best I can with other ladies — 



jo THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

with Miss Ready, for example at Murfreesboro, 
and Miss Webster at Wartrace. 

You are acquainted with Mrs. Collyer at Win- 
chester, and with Mr. Graves. The latter was in 
great apprehension that his seminary would be 
taken for a hospital. The yellow flag had been 
hoisted on it by General Cheatham's Medical 
director. In his distress he went to Mrs. Collyer 
who told him to apply to me, and to represent that 
you had been educated there and he would save 
the building. He came ; I went with him to Gen. 
Bragg, who exempted the school. Dining after- 
wards with Mrs. Collyer she assured me that half 
the people in Winchester believed you had been 
instrumental in saving the building. You see 
what mischief you are doing. 

My son Willie is at school at Marietta. 

I was interrupted at this point by business. 
Went afterwards to a party given by the Arkansas 
brigade. Have returned early to finish my letter. 

To begin where I left oif. I am desirous to 
have Willie with me during his vacation. He may 
have to pass a night at Chattanooga. I have 
directed him to call on you, and I beg you will 
show him how to find Major Smith's quarters 
who, I am sure, will provide him quarters for the 
night. 

I wish I could answer your first letter in a 
manner satisfactory to myself. I know well my 
shortcomings, but a when I would do good evil 
is present with me." I make many good resolu- 
tions, but do not always adhere to them. I wish 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 71 

I were a better man. I do not despair of succeed- 
ing and you must not abandon me. 

Make kind remembrances to Carrie, and I re- 
main, as ever, 

Faithfully your friend, 
W. J. Hardee. 

Mrs. Ella K Newsom, 
Chattanooga, Tenn. 
P. S. 

December 5, 1862. 

After twelve o'clock I received an important 
order from Gen. Bragg ordering my corps to take 
position at Eagleville, on Shelbyville and Nash- 
ville pike. We are in the midst of a snowstorm, 
and the order, with the exception of our brigade, 
is postponed till the weather clears up. I will 
write when I get located. 



I will not allow any one to see your letters. 
Write freely. I take a warm interest in all that 
concerns you. You can rely on me as a friend 
implicitly. I admire and love you and it is my 
pleasure to do anything which may contribute to 
your happiness. Do you want anything which I 
can get? Major Roy sends his regards. 

W. J. Hardee. 

" General Floyd came to Bowling Green in 
December 1861 bringing with him his command 
in a most deplorable condition. How any of his 



72 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

men ever lived to get to the West or any survived 
to go into the battles of Forts Henry and Donelson 
I have often wondered. So many of his soldiers 
were mere boys and all of them seemed to have 
come from a class of petted and spoiled children. 

" He had not been long in Bowling Green be- 
fore one or two buildings were full of sick and 
dying men. He called on me in person and be- 
sought of me to take charge of the Floyd Hospital. 
As others had become interested in the work al- 
ready begun, particularly a Mrs. Gilmore from 
Memphis, a most efficient worker and organizer, 
I consented to go, taking with me my servants and 
provisions." 

John B. Floyd was born in Blacksburg, Va., 
June 1, 1807; was admitted to the bar in 1828; 
practiced law for a time in Helena, Ark. ; in 1839 
he settled in Washington County, Va. ; served in 
the legislature several times and was governor of 
the state in 1850-1853. In 1857 he was appointed 
by President Buchanan to be Secretary of War. 

With the opening of the war in 1861 he served 
temporarily in West Virginia, but finally repaired 
to Bowling Green, Ky. Shortly thereafter he 
joined the Confederate forces at Fort Donelson. 
The night prior to the surrender of Fort Donelson, 
however, he made his escape from the place and, 
resting under Confederate odium, never recovered 
his standing. He died near Abingdon, Va., Aug. 
26, 1863. 

" Generals Cleburne and Hindman called often 
to see me at my work, being from my state, 
Arkansas. They were always impressing me with 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 73 

their pride in my womanly courage and gave me 
much encouragement." 

Patrick R. Cleburne was born in Ireland, March 
17, 1828. Coming to the United States, he finally 
located at Helena, Ark., where he subsequently 
practiced law. 

He joined the Confederacy at the opening of the 
war, and in 1862 was made Brigadier General. 
He was a brave and skillful officer throughout the 
war, being known as " The Stonewall of the West." 
At the terrible battle of Franklin, Tenn., Nov. 30, 
1864, he was killed while leading a division in 
Cheatman's Corps of Hood's army. 

As illustrating the full appreciation by General 
Cleburne of his rights as an officer and his duty 
to make amends as publicly as he may have com- 
mitted an oifense, this little incident which 
occurred during Bragg's retirement from Middle 
Tennessee in 1863, is submitted. The incident is 
related by L. H. Mangum, a law partner prior to 
the war and a member of Cleburne's staff during 
the war. 

" He had the highest personal esteem for Gen. 
eral John C. Brown, and the origin of this re- 
gard is worthy of narration. The army of Ten- 
nessee, retreating from middle Tennessee to Chat- 
tanooga, camped at what was then University 
Station, now Sewanee. The order of march for 
the clay was as follows: Hardee's corps in front, 
with Cleburne's division leading. Positive orders 
were issued for no troops to precede him. Early 
in the morning, as he filed his division into the 
road, he found a brigade marching in front. 



74 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

Going to the head of the brigade, he asked for 
the commander. General Brown, whom Cleburne 
had never met, answered that he was. Cleburne, 
in a peremptory manner, ordered him to halt his 
brigade till he passed with his division, and re- 
buked him for disobedience of orders, in a tone 
that brooked no reply, and bordered on insult. On 
returning to the head of his division he met Gen- 
eral Hardee, who informed him that he had 
changed the original order of march by putting 
Brown's brigade in front. Cleburne, without say- 
ing a word, galloped back to Brown, and, in the 
presence and hearing of those who had witnessed 
the previous meeting, offered an apology in earnest 
and ample terms for the strong words he had used 
under a misconception. This was the beginning 
of a friendship between these two brave men which 
was cemented on many a future occasion, and 
terminated only by death. 

To Rev. A. J. Rya, Knoxville, Tenn., the fol- 
lowing stanzas are affectionately inscribed by his 
friend, J. D. Sullivan. 

These stanzas are founded upon the following 
facts, related to me by a gentleman whose veracity 
is unquestionable. On the morning of the battle 
of Franklin, Tenn., Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne, 
C. S. A., while riding along the line encouraging 
his men, beheld an old friend — a Captain in his 
command — his feet bleeding from cold and other 
causes. Alighting from his horse, he asked the 
Captain to " please " pull off his boots. The Cap- 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 75 

tain did so, when Gen. Clebnrne then told him to 
try them on; this the Captain also did. Gen. 
Clebnrne then mounted his horse, told the Captain 
he was tired of wearing them, and could do very- 
well without them. He would hear of no re- 
monstrance, and bidding the Captain good-bye, 
rode away. In this condition he was killed, and 
in this condition he was found. 

OH ! NO, HE'LL NOT NEED THEM AGAIN. 

Oh ! uo, he'll not need them again, 
No more will he wake to behold 
The splendor and fame of his men, 
The tale of their victories is told! 
No more will he wake from that sleep 
Which he sleeps in his glory and fame, 
While his comrades are left here to weep 
O'er Cleburne, his grave and his name. 

Oh ! no, he'll not need them again, 
No more will his banner be spread 
O'er the fields of his gallantry's fame; 
The soldier's proud spirit is fled. 
The soldier who rose 'mid applause 

From the humble-most place in the van 

I sing not in praise of the cause, 
But rather in praise of the man. 

Oh ! no, he'll not need them again, 

He has fought the last battle without them, 

For barefoot he too must go in, 

While barefoot stood comrades about him. 



76 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

And barefoot they proudly marched on 
With blood flowing fast from their feet; 
The thought of the vast vict'ries won, 
And the foes that they now were to meet. 

Oh ! no, he'll not need them again, 

He is leading his men to the charge 

Unheeding the shells or the slain, 

Or the shower of bullets at large. 

On the right, on the left, on the flanks, 

He dashingly pushes his way, 

While with cheers, double-quick and in ranks, 

His soldiers all followed that day. 

Oh ! no, he'll not need them again, 

He falls from his horse to the ground, 

Oh anguish ! oh ,sorrow ! oh pain ! 

In the brave hearts that gathered around. 

He breathes not of grief, nor a sigh 

On the breast where he pillowed his head, 

'Ere he fixed his last gaze upon high, 

" I'm gone, but fight on boys ! " he said.* 

Oh! no, he'll not need them again, 

But treasure them up for his sake ; 

And oh, should you sing a refrain 

Of the memories they still must awake! 

Sing it soft as the summer eve-breeze, 

Let it sound as refreshing and clear, 

Though grief-born, there's that which can please 

In thoughts that are gemmed with a tear ! 

* A Confederate officer, within a few feet of Cleburne 
when he fell, says his last words were : "I'm killed, 
boys, but fight it out ! " 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. yy 

Albert Sidney Johnston was born in Washing- 
ton, Mason County, Ky., Feb. 3, 1803. He 
graduated from West Point in 1826; served for 
a time in the Black Hawk War ; entered the Texan 
Army as private in 1863 ; soon was promoted to 
brigadier general and in 1838 became commander- 
in-chief and Secretary of War of the new Re- 
public. 

From private life in Texas, he entered the war 
with Mexico, and in 1849 became paymaster in 
the U. S. Army. 

Sympathizing with the Confederacy in 1861, he 
was appointed to a commanding position in the 
army. After the capture of Forts Henry and 
Donelson he concentrated his army at Corinth, and 
on the sixth of April, 1862 in the first day's battle 
of Shiloh he lost his life. 

Braxton Bragg was born in Warren County, 
N. C, March 22, 1817; was graduated from West 
Point in 1837; and served with acceptance in both 
the Seminole and Mexican Wars. At Buena Vista 
he received special recognition from General 
Taylor — " Give 'em a little more grape, Captain 
Bragg." 

In March 1861, he was made a Brigadier Gen- 
eral in the Confederate army ; and a Major General 
in February 1862, taking an important part in 
the battle of Shiloh in April. He was made a 
general in place of Albert Sidney Johnston, killed 
at Shiloh, and in the succeeding May, superseded 
Beauregard in command of the Confederate army. 

In the summer of 1862 he invaded Kentucky, 
defeated a column of Union troops at Richmond 



78 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

and later another at Munfordville and was finally, 
in turn, defeated at Perryville, October 8th. Re- 
tiring from the state of Kentucky, he met 
Rosecrans in defeat at Murfreesboro, Tenn., and 
the following summer held him in check till he 
was, himself, forced across the Tennessee river to 
occupy Northern Georgia. Sept. 19, 20, 1863, he 
defeated Rosecrans at Chickamauga, and was de- 
feated by Grant in turn at Lookout Mountain and 
Missionary^ Ridge, Nov. 24, 1863. This ended his 
active military career. He died at Galveston, 
Texas, Sept. 27, 1876. 

Leonidas Polk was born in Raleigh, N. C, April 
10, 1806; a graduate of West Point in 1827. A 
member of the Episcopal church, he was chosen 
Bishop of Louisiana in 1841. In 1861 he joined 
the Confederacy and was made a Major General. 
His first conspicuous service occurred in the 
occupation of Columbus, Ky., during which time 
he was pitted against General Grant at Belmont, 
November 6th. 

He had command of a division at Shiloh, April 
6-7, 1862 ; and participated in the battle of Stone 
River, at the close of the year. For valiant services 
he was made a Lieutenant General. 

He led a corps at Chickamauga, Sept. 19, 20, 
1863, and for disobedience of orders was relieved 
of command and placed under arrest. He did not 
rejoin the same Confederate army until the next 
spring when he cooperated with Gen. J. p. John- 
ston in the Atlanta campaign. 

He was killed by a canon shot at Pine Knob, 
near Marietta, Ga., June 14, 1864. 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 79 

Simon Boliver Buckner was born in Kentucky 
in 1823 and graduated at West Point in 1844; 
was instructor at West Point both before and after 
the Mexican war in which he was wounded. He 
practiced law in Kentucky, was commander of 
the state guard and Adjutant-General of the state 
at the opening of the war. Later he joined the 
Confederates and surrendered the garrison at Fort 
Donelson in 1862. After his release from prison 
he was made a Lieutenant-General and served in 
the Confederacy till the close of the war. Was 
elected governor of Kentucky in 1887 and in 1896 
was Vice-Presidential candidate with Gen. John 
M. Palmer on the gold-Democratic ticket. At 
present, 1910, he is a resident of Kentucky. 

John C. Breckenridge was born near Lexington, 
Ky., January 21, 1821. Having studied law he 
practiced his profession at Lexington. He served 
as Major in the Mexican war; was a member of 
the Kentucky legislature; served in Congress 
from 1851 to 1855; was Vice-President with 
Buchanan from 1857 to 1861; was the Southern 
Democratic candidate for the Presidency in the 
race of 1860; and succeeded John J. Crittenden 
in the Senate of the United States in 1861. Hav- 
ing been expelled from the Senate, he joined the 
Confederate army and was made a Major General 
August 5, 1862. H saw active service during the 
war, and was Secretary of War of the Confederacy 
when it fell. He was the youngest man who ever 
held the office of Vice-President of the United 
States. He died at Lexington, May 17, 1875. 



80 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

Wartrace, Tenn., June 2, 1863. 

To Mrs. E. K. Newsom : — 

I was at Headquarters to-day, and General 
Hardee informed me that you were preparing to 
go to Arkansas. He spoke of the matter with 
much warmth, and urged me to write to you to 
present the real difficulties to be encountered. 

In the first place the distance. This is a great 
objection. The mode of traveling, by rail, is in 
the present condition of the roads a most serious 
obstacle. Then when the road terminates, how 
will you get further? Public conveyances are out 
of the question. Can a private conveyance be had ? 
I think not. How can you subsist ? Where sleep ? 
How will you cross rivers and creeks? 

You have energy and will. They are excellent 
qualities, and avail a great deal under difficulties; 
but it will put these to the severest test, and your 
power of endurance besides. Then when you get 
to Arkansas can you stay there? Will they not 
send you to prison, or order you back within your 
own lines? I think they will. If you get to the 
Yazoo country, and find you can go no further, 
and should be obliged to return, you will be so 
much exhausted that you will faint by the way. 

Will you listen to your " new found friend and 
counsellor ? " In my opinion you ought not to 
take the trip. If the country was as it was two 
years ago, it would be a big undertaking; now it 
is an impossibility. 

I have just received orders to march at three 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 81 

o'clock to-morrow morning. We go to feel the 
enemy's position toward Murfreesboro and I must 
close. 

I am, very truly, 

Your friend in haste, 

Jno. M. Johnson, 
Chief Surgeon. 

Shortly prior to the great battle of Chickamauga, 
Sept. 19-20, 1863, Mrs. JSTewsom, fatigued by the 
excessive cares and burdens of her arduous work 
in behalf of the sick and wounded, spent a brief 
period of rest in Knoxville, Tenn. This occurred 
preceding the occupancy of East Tennessee by 
Burnside's Union Column. 

While there Mrs. Newsom was visited by Col. 
W. B. Richmond, of Gen. Polk's staff, a highly 
educated and most fascinating Christian officer, 
whom the Confederate nurse regarded with the 
highest admiration. She speaks of him in her 
notes thus : " Of all the striking, interesting char- 
acters who stand out in bold relief in my memories 
of the war is one who bore only the title of Colonel. 
He was on the staff of General Polk. I first met 
him after the battle of Shiloh. His face was 
illuminated with the grand character he possessed ; 
and while he was strikingly handsome, it was the 
light of his countenance which fixed the impres- 
sion he made upon every one who knew him well. 

" Just before the battle of Chickamauga, this 
officer having a leave of absence came to Knox- 
ville. We met at the Lamar House, one of the 
principal hotels of the city. After an eight o'clock 



82 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

breakfast, and for eight hours thereafter, without 
even suspending for luncheon, I was entertained 
in the parlor by the richest conversation I ever had 
with any human being. Philosophy, science, 
language, history, the Bible, war, the fate of our 
beautiful Southland, — all these came within the 
realm of his eloquent, enchanting conversation. 
Impressed with the soul-stirring events on the 
Mount of Transfiguration, I felt with the inspired 
Peter : * It is good to be here.' 

" While this memorable scene was being enacted, 
Col. Eichmond received a telegram from Gen. 
Polk, summoning him to come directly to the 
front to participate in the battle then imminent. 
He answered the summons and left on the first 
train for the front. In the bloody battle of Chick- 
amauga he gave up his useful life to the grim- 
visaged demon of war. 

" In the evening, after the day's fighting had 
ceased and the officers at Gen. Polk's headquarters 
sat down to their scanty meal, the question was 
asked : ' where is Col. Eichmond ? ' No one knew. 
Search began. Finally near the line of the Union 
army his body was found. On his coat front was 
pinned a slip with the remark in his own hand, 
written after he was mortally wounded : ' Who- 
ever delivers my body to my mother at Clarksville, 
Tenn., will be paid $500 in gold.' 

" The horrible carnage of war ! How many 
thousands of grand, noble, humane characters 
were reaped in the harvests of death. Men of all 
ages, of all positions, of all attainments, went 
down on the fields of blood." 



QF t THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 83 



HUMANITY IN WAR 

u War's a game which, were their subjects wise, 
Kings would not play at." Cow 'per. 

Modern warfare is greatly improved on account 
of the mitigation of suffering. The barbarity of 
the past has yielded to conditions more in harmony 
with the spirit of the age. 

In no department has this been more manifest 
than in that line of work falling under the minis- 
tration of hospital agencies. The Ambulance 
system, or that of movable hospitals, has done 
much to assuage human suffering. On the field 
of battle stretcher-bearers have served an equally 
humane purpose. Trained nurses, Sisters of 
Charity, agents of mercy of the Red Cross and 
other humane agents have been successful in 
alleviating suffering in the various fields of martial 
activity. 

The most conspicuous character in modern 
angelic ministration on the field of carnage is 
Florence Nighingale whose fame is world-wide. 

Miss Florence Nightingale, philanthropist, 
daughter of Mr. William E. Nightingale, a Hamp- 
shire landowner in England, was born at Florence, 
Italy, May 12, 1820. Richly endowed and highly 



84 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

educated, she early took on a philanthropic mold 
of activity. In 1844, when but twenty-four years 
of age, she began to give attention to the condition 
of hospitals. She personally inspected and studied 
eleemosynary institutions all over Europe much as 
John Howard had done a century previous. She 
learned from the Sisters of Charity in Paris, and 
finally went herself in 1851 to Germany, entering 
an institution of Protestant Sisters of Mercy at 
Kaiserville on the Ehine. Having completed her 
preparation she returned to England and began 
the reorganization of work at a Governesses' 
Sanatorium. 

"When the Crimean war culminated in 1854-5, 
Florence heard of the intense suffering among 
the English and other allied soldiers and the 
defective management of the military hospitals. 
Accordingly she, the " Lady-in-chief " of the 
Sanatorium, repaired with her force of ninety-two 
women workers to the seat of war, and took up 
her quarters at the Barrack Hospital, Scutari, 
November 4, 1854. Giving herself unreservedly 
to the work and thus infusing her own energy 
into the ranks, she immediately brought order 
out of chaos, and soon reduced the death-rate to 
an equality with those of home military institu- 
tions. 

For twenty hours at a time she would stand to 
see the soldiers fed and made comfortable. It is 
said that when nursing the sick and wounded in 
the hospitals she so endeared herself to the suf- 
ferers by her gentle and loving ministrations that, 
as she passed through the wards at night, shad- 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 85 

ing her lamp with her hand for fear she would 
disturb some of the patients, the soldiers would 
kiss her shadow on the wall as she passed. 

After taking charge of the company of ninety- 
two nurses, many of them ladies of high rank, all 
the hospitals on the Bosphorus were put under 
her supervision. 

Her admirers collected for her a testimonal of 
£50,000, equivalent to $250,000, and offered it to 
her. She refused the proffer and suggested the 
amount be contributed for establishing an institu- 
tion to train nurses. Such a school was founded 
on her return to England. Her biographer says: 
" The Queen presented her with a magnificent 
cross, and the Sultan of Turkey sent her a superb 
bracelet, set with brilliants." 

Her health was impaired by the intense labors 
and anxiety she was required to undergo. Her 
work was perpetuated, however, by reducing her 
views and observations to written form. 

After half a century of apparent if not real 
neglect, Florence Nightingale was introduced to 
some of the laurels in reserve for her. Upon her 
in the year 1908 was bestowed the highest honor 
within the gift of the city of London, " the free- 
dom of the city." At a time when she was a 
helpless invalid, King Edward made her a mem- 
ber of the " Order of Merit." On such occasions 
it is the custom of the Lord Mayor to put the 
precious document in a richy chased gold casket 
which costs the authorities over $1,500. 

On this occasion Miss Nightingale modestly 
suggested that she would prefer to receive the 



86 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

document in a plain oak casket; and if the usual 
sum was to be expended, she would be gratified 
if it were given to a hospital in which she was 
interested. Her request was cheerfully met, and 
a check representing the difference in the value 
of the caskets was enclosed with the document. 

In eulogizing, in an eloquent speech, her great 
services, the City Chamberlain called attention to 
the long time that had elapsed between her im- 
portant services in the Crimean war and the 
honors now being bestowed by the city of London. 
Continuing he said: 

" We regret that owing to some unexplained 
omission on the part of a previous generation, the 
honorary freedom, the highest honor in the gift 
of the corporation, was not conferred upon her 
half a century ago, when she was in health and 
strength, and able thoroughly to appreciate and 
enjoy it." 

Miss Nightingale celebrated her ninetieth birth- 
day in London, May 12, 1910. 

King George sent her a congratulatory message. 
Her friends had not told her of King Edward's 
death, fearing the injury such a shock might 
cause. King George's message was, therefore, 
read aloud to her as coming from " the King." 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 87 



THE TWO NIGHTINGALES COMPARED. 

It may interest the reader to institute a brief 
comparison between the two heroine Nightingales, 
Miss Florence and Miss Ella. We are aware that 
sometimes comparisons are considered odious; but 
in this case we are confident that the more care- 
fully and fully the comparison is made, the more 
brilliant and commendable will stand forth the 
character of each. 

1. The notable feature of both Nightingales is 
the highly endowed moral nature of each. This, 
considering the hnmane mission selected by each 
was essentially fundamental. Strong faith in God 
and love for him ; love for suffering and distress in 
human kind on the field of conflict; alleviation 
of pain resulting from sincere sympathy for be- 
ings in distress — these constituted the foundation, 
on which the whole superstructure rested. 

2. Each deemed a preliminary hospital training 
essential to ultimate success in her calling, and 
each was willing patiently to undergo such train- 
ing. 

3. Both kindled in their patients the most in- 
tense admiration and retained it tenaciously as 
long as the patients lived. 

4. Both had the capacity to organize and 



88 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

manage a corps of workers, and to inspire them 
individually with the same devotion and zeal 
which they themselves felt. 

5. Each labored from the standpoint of entire 
consecration and devotion to the work in hand, 
taking no account of the lapse of time or incon- 
venience encountered. 

6. Both counted financial means of no con- 
sequence except as those means inured to the well- 
being of the unfortunate sufferers. 

7. Both endured bodily infirmities patiently and 
uninterruptedly; and in this manner they became 
successful teachers of their fellow mortals in the 
great lessons of endurance and sacrifice for others. 

8. Each lady inspired, during her active career 
in the field of war and suffering, the most intense 
regard and admiration, but witnessed the period 
succeeded by half a century of neglect and indif- 
ference before final reward of gratitude and ap- 
preciation came. 

This comparison may be closed with the observa- 
tion that Florence Nightingale of England, the 
original angel of mercy, became the model and 
ideal of Mrs. Ella K. Newsom, the "Florence 
Nightingale of the Southern army." 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 89 



LITERARY CONTEMPORARY. 

One of the popular writers of the South, whose 
works have become household words, is Miss 
Augusta Jane Evans (since 1868 Mrs. L. M. Wil- 
son). She was born near Columbus, Georgia, May 
8, 1835. In childhood she accompanied her father 
to Texas, and remained a resident of the Lone 
Star until 1849 when she moved to Mobile, 
Alabama. 

In the list of her literary products are the fol- 
lowing: Inez, a tale of the Alamo, 1856; Beulah, 
1859; Macaria, 1864; St. Elmo, 1866; Vashtai, 
1869; At the Mercy of Tiberius, 1887. 

Her sympathies are loyally with the people 
and institutions of the Southland. The follow- 
ing typical letters indicate clearly the ardent sup- 
port given the cause of the Confederacy by its 
women. The " Lost Cause " owes none of its 
failure to the apathy of the fairer sex. 

Mobile, August 25, 1863. 
My Deak Mrs. Newsom : — 

Your welcome letter arrived during my absence 
from home, and finding it on my arrival I avail 
myself of the earliest leisure moment to acknowl- 
edge its receipt and tender my thanks. I have just 



9 o THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

returned from a brief visit to Chattanooga, where 
I went to see my brother Howard who has been 
in very poor health for more than a year. He be- 
longs to Tucker's 41st Mississippi Regiment, 
Anderson's Brigade, and Wither's division. 

Finding that his brigade was at Shell Mound, 
mother and I went down to that place. I regret 
exceedingly that you had left Chattanooga before 
my arrival as I anticipated great pleasure in meet- 
ing you again. I met several of your friends, 
Major Roy, Major Albert Smith, etc., etc., who 
told me you were recruiting your health in Knox- 
ville. Like myself, I too was worn down and 
needed some change. Unfortunately your labors 
were in a better cause, attendance in the hospitals, 
while mine were by mid-night lamps over my desk. 
My new book, of which you have probably seen 
notices in the papers, is now in press in Charles- 
ton ; and if that noble, peerless " city by the sea," 
is not destroyed by the bombardment now impend- 
ing, I presume my book will soon be out. It is 
published by West and Johnson, of Richmond, but 
they give their printing to Cogswell & Co. of 
Charleston. 

The copying of the Mss. was tedious work, 
necessitating great particularity, and I felt in- 
finitely relieved when the task was completed. 

There were intimations yesterday that some 
movement was contemplated in Gen. Bragg's army 
and I very much fear that Rosecrans will so suc- 
cessfully flank Chattanooga as to force our troops 
to evacuate it, and fall back toward Atlanta. 

This is a season of peculiar trial, and deep nat- 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 91 

ional gloom, but I comfort myself with the words 
of Schiller's Wallenstein: 

" In the night only 
Freidland's Stars can beam." 

Our night has come down, black and cheerless. 
Let us look up hopefully, trustfully, unwaveringly 
for the shimmer of our glorious day-star. Grap- 
pling faith to our weary hearts, let us place our 
destiny in the hands of a merciful, just, and 
righteous God, and calmly say with Southey: 

" Onward, in faith ; and leave the rest to 
Heaven." 

As a people we have relied too little upon our 
God, and too entirely upon ourselves; we have be- 
come corrupt, selfish, grasping and avaricious. We 
needed chastisement and it has fallen upon us. 
I trust the recent day of Fasting and Prayer was 
faithfully observed throughout the Confederacy. 
I do not believe that our greatest trials have yet 
overtaken us, but the hour of sorest need is cer- 
tainly at hand. Independence and Constitutional 
Republican Liberty is too precious a boon to be 
lightly won, and we are now paying the heavy im- 
memorial dues which Liberty inexorably demands. 
I mourn over the demoralization of the country, 
because it places our national redemption so much 
farther off. The women of the Confederacy have 
been remiss in not using their influence to correct 
this evil ere it became colossal; for they are the 
guardians of the nation's purity, and upon them 
in great degree must devolve its reformation. 



92 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

I am exceedingly troubled to hear that your 
family have been so annoyed by the Federals, and 
hope that ere this they have escaped from Arkansas 
and reached this side of the river. When you write 
do give my warmest love and sympathy to your 
dear mother. 

Will you return to Chattanooga? My mother 
sends her best love. Hoping that your health will 
be fully restored, 

I am, affectionately yours, 
A. J. Evans. 

Mobile, August 25, 1863. 

(Miss Evans was a close interpreter of military move- 
ments. Her predictions were verified.) 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 93 

Miss Evans, it seems, was strongly impressed with 
the idea of going into the Confederate hospital 
service. Under date of Mobile, October 28, 1863, she 
writes : 

LETTER NO. 2. 

Mobile, Oct. 28, 1863. 
My Dear Mrs. Newsom: — 

I very much fear that you will ascribe to me a 
degree of fickleness, which does not belong to my 
character, when I tell you that after all I shall 
not be able to join you in Marietta as I hoped and 
expected when I applied to you for a position. The 
truth simply is, that my family is so much opposed 
to my doing so, especially my brothers, that I have 
been forced to give up the scheme. I was and am 
stilly very anxious to go into the hospitals and 
selected Marietta because you were there; and it 
was comparatively near my brother, about whose 
health I feel so uneasy. But when the boys learned 
of my application, they opposed it so strenuously, 
and urged me so earnestly to abandon the idea, that 
I feel unwilling to take a step which they disap- 
prove so vehemently. I had fully determined to 
accept the position you so kindly offered me and 
even fixed the date for my departure ; but finding 
how troubled my brothers are about it, I have very 
reluctantly, and with great disappointment given 
up the hope of being with you. 

The boys have heard so much said about ladies 
being in the hospitals, that they can not bear for 
me to go. I feel that the work is a noble one, and 



94 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

I long to be at your side, working with you, but 
since my family are so violently opposed, I do not 
feel willing to give them the pain. That I am very 
much disappointed, I acknowledge; for I had set 
my heart on joining you. Let me thank you, how- 
ever, my dear friend, for the promptness and kind- 
ness with which you responded to my letter. I 
have much to engage me, in the Orphan Asylum 
where I am a manager, but I had intended resign- 
ing that position if I entered the hospitals. Al- 
though I cannot be with you, I hope to hear from 
you as frequently as your numerous duties and im- 
perative claims will permit; and should be very 
glad if you would give me some account of the 
system you employ. 

If my brother is sick again, I shall beg him to 
report to the hospital in Marietta, where you can 
look after him. His health has been poor so long, 
that we feel exceedingly anxious about him. When 
you write to your family, please present my kindest 
regards and affectionate remembrances to your dear 
mother. Write me as often as you can find req- 
uisite leisure and believe me, 

Most Sincerely, 
Your friend, 
A. J. Evans. 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 95 



APPENDIX. 

Subsequent to the War, Mrs. Newsom married 
a Confederate officer, Colonel Trader who lived a 
number of years. He dying, she was thrown, as 
the result of financial losses during and subsequent 
to the war, into a largely dependent condition. De- 
prived of the sight of one eye and rendered almost 
totally deaf, she was subjected to conditions embar- 
rassingly in contrast with the state of affluence pos- 
sessed while the widow of Dr. ISTewsom. 

Under these circumstances, her friends sought 
aid for her. In 1885 an effort was made at Ashe- 
ville, N. C, to secure, by popular subscriptions, the 
means by which a suitable residence was to be 
established. The movement was undertaken under 
the direction of the Asheville Advance with a view 
to securing: 



96 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 



THE NEWSOM HOME FUND. 

In" addition to the stirring appeals by trie paper 
equally vigorous ones were made by General Joseph 
B. Palmer, of Murfreesboro, and Ex. -Governor 
Albert S. Marks of Nashville, Tenn. The appeal 
was ineffective, and was not renewed for some time. 

In 1908, through the instrumentality of an intel- 
ligent and patriotic citizen and physician of Wash- 
ington, D. C, Dr. Samuel E Lewis, the case of 
Mrs. Newsom was fully and ably presented before 
the Association of Medical Officers of the Army and 
Navy of the Confederacy at their annual reunion 
in Birminghan, Ala., June 9th. The records show 
that affirmative action was unanimously taken on 
the following resolutions: Mrs. E. K. Trader, (a 
widow), born in Brandon, Mississippi, a daughter 
of the Rev. T. S. ~N. King, a Baptist clergyman, 
who went to live in Arkansas when she was but a 
child; there she was married to Dr. Frank Newsom, 
of Tennessee, who died a short time before the 
war of 1861-65 began; laboring in which war she 
sacrificed her entire wealth of servants, and other 
property, and impaired her health, in her great and 
distinguished ministration and services to the sick, 
wounded and dying soldiers of the Confederate 
army, throughout the entire period of the war, 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 97 

which at that time won for her the great love of 
the officers, soldiers and physicians ; and, 

Whereas, This Association deems that the de- 
votion of this noble woman is not recognized, or if 
so, not appreciated, by the people of the South at 
this time, as it should be ; therefore, be it 

Resolved, That this Association of the Medical 
Officers of the Army and Navy of the Confederacy, 
at this, the 11th annual meeting, in the city of 
Birmingham, Alabama, send her loving greeting, 
with the best wishes that the Supreme Being will 
vouchsafe to her declining years, fullness of peace 
and comfort, and the gratifying consciousness that 
the Veteran Confederate soldiers, and their descen- 
dants, hold in kindly remembrance the great and 
distinguished services which she rendered the sick, 
wounded and dying at a time when the Southern 
people were themselves suffering and in the greatest 
distress; and be it further 

Resolved, That this devoted Confederate woman 
is hereby commended to the high consideration of 
the Southern people of this day ; and be it further 

Resolved, That the Secretary is hereby authorized 
and directed to transmit a copy of these resolutions 
to Mrs. E. K. Trader, in Washington, D. C. ; and to 
request the daily press of this city, the Confederate 
Veteran and Southern Practitioner, of Nashville, 
Tennessee, to give place in their columns, in behalf 
of this noble Confederate woman, for this brief 
sketch of her history and services — and for these 
resolutions. 



98 THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

Ashewood, Tennessee, Sept. 29, 1909. 

Prof. J. Fraise Eichard, 
Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir: — 

You could not have a more favorable introduc- 
tion to me than as a friend of Mrs. Trader. 

I first met her over fifty years since as the young 
and beautiful bride of my dear friend Frank 
Newsom and next during the war when she was de- 
voting her time and fortune to the care of the sick 
and wounded Confederate soldiers. She was faithful 
and untiring in this trying duty to the end and 
deserves the love and gratitude of every Southern 
man and woman and child. I am ashamed that she 
is allowed to make an irksome livelihood. Many if 
not nearly all who were the recipients of her care 
have passed beyond. Of those who remain, many 
are poor and feeble but in years to come when the 
record of her loving tenderness is recognised statues 
will be erected to her. In the meanwhile to be 
acclaimed the " Southern Florence Nightingale " is 
a poor return. I note what you say about my writ- 
ing a sketch of Gen. Polk and Col. Richmond and 
would willingly do so, but I am in my 79th year and 
my memory is apt to slip several cogs as well as my 
other faculties. I beg that if the opportunity oc- 
curs of doing a friendly service to Mrs. Trader you 
will remember what she has been to suffering 
humanity. 

Yours very Sincerely, 

Henry C. Yeatman. 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 99 



LETTER TO DR. S. B. LEWIS. 

Mrs. ISTewsom writing to Dr Lewis from Wash- 
ington, D. C, Aug. 27, 1908, requested him to write 
to the publishers of the Christian Herald Bible 
House, New York and enclose certain photographs 
to be published as was that of Florence Night- 
ingale. Says Mrs. Newsom: "I have never ex- 
aggerated nor could I ever give a full account of 
what I did and endured for the four years jf the 
war. I myself am amazed when I look back to 
it, and consider my youth and my health ! " 



"1 do not expect the * Palace' which the 
Southern Soldiery declared they would build for 
me and take me on their shoulders and put me in. 
I would have but a few years to enjoy it. No, I 
have a ' house eternal in the heavens.' To that 
I expect in a very ishort while to be borne. Of 
that house I am sure for the Savior said : ' I go to 
prepare a place for you. In my Father's House 
are many mansions.'" 

Mrs S. B. Kuhl, whose sons are conducting a 
State National Bank at Texakana, Ark., under 
date of June 25, 1909, writes: 

* Your character as Florence Nightingale is not 



ioo THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 

overdrawn. You acted as grand and heroic a part 
for your Southland as ever she did [for hers]. 
Why the people of the South have not done some- 
thing for you ere this, I can't understand. They 
have simply been in ignorance of your existence 
and what your past has been." 

Yabobusha, Miss., Oct. 14, 1908. 

Mrs. E. K. Trader, 

Washington, D. C. 

Dear Mrs. Trader : — 

I had not heard from you since I was at the 
Newsom Hospital in Chattanooga, Term., until I 
saw a piece in the Veteran about you which I sup- 
pose you have already seen and read. 

I was wounded in the arm and brought to your 
care at Chattanooga, while you were matron and 
Dr. Frank Harthorne and his assistants, Drs. 
Bloxsom and Means had charge of the hospital. I 
entered the Hospital in January 1863 and re- 
mained until April. This was after the battle of 
Murfreesboro. 

I was wounded in the right arm, what is called 
compound fracture. I had erysipelas three times 
while I was wounded and under your care. 

I write to thank you for your kind attention for 
I think I owe my life to you and Dr. Frank 
Harthorne. You cannot conceive of how much 
service this arm has been to me when it would have 
been lost if it had not been for you. 

I am still living near CoSeeville, the place where 
I was born and raised. I have raised a family of 



OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 101 

six children, four girls and two boys all grown. 
My health is very bad now, I am very feeble and 
not able to do anything much. 

I thank you again and again for your kindness. 
I would be glad to do any favor for you that I 
could at any time. 

[Yours Respectfully, 

AUKELIUS RlDDICK BALLAKD. 



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